Discussion: Cramping and what to do about it

[DarkSkies]

First I thought I would lump this in among the other threads. After my experience yesterday, I saw how critical it could be to my safety, and figured it might be of use to others to talk about it if they also have issues with cramping.

And this doesn't have anything to do (for me) with personal physical fitness either. My legs are a dynamo, I used to win kickboard contests when on the swim team as a kid, and they served me well on the Pop Warner football team. They can take some abuse and I push my stamina each time with the Hobie pedal yak.

Yesterday, and some other times, I got severe cramps from pushing it too much, and had to find a place to get out and work them out.

Here's a trick that was handed down to me by Pebbles' Dad. I'm extremely grateful he taught me this, and wanted to share it with you folks:


When any cramping or "charley horse" occurs at any point in my body, I find the "pinch point" located at the middle of my upper lip.

I pinch it with all my strength, and eventually it will cause the cramp to subside. There's a nerve ending there that's connected to your body reflex for cramps. If the cramp is not subsiding, I pinch as hard as needed, sometimes hard enough to draw blood.

If anyone has similar remedies they've used or can post up more up about cramps and why we get them, from the internet, I would be grateful. Thanks. :thumbsup:

[dogfish]

Here you go Dark.

http://speedendurance.com/2010/05/04/tips-on-preventing-leg-cramps-while-sleeping/
Solutions and Preventative Remedies


Accupressure, Accupuncture and Reflexology deserves a separate series of articles. But the term “keep a stiff upper lip” has some merit here as pinching your upper lip while enduring leg cramps can help minimize the pain until the pain stops.

Dehydration or electrolyte imbalance could be a cause of cramps. See my previous article on Pedialyte (http://speedendurance.com/2010/02/08/dehydration-and-the-lesser-known-disgusting-tasting-cure/). So make sure you are properly hydrated.

[buckethead]

I get terrible cramps if I don't get enough sleep. When you know the fish are biting it is hard to stop of natural drive of a being a fisherman. We push ourselves to the max. My remedy is to get more sleep. At least this way the cramps will not be less severe.

[DarkSkies]

Bump to the top for that whitewater freak Monty...and any others of ya's who push it till ya drop....


This pinching technique really works. I was fishing Jbay with a friend of mine last year and only slept 2 hours before launching....I ended up paddling to a shallow reedy area (there were no sedge islands in this spot) and walking chest deep in the reeds while pinching my lips. tied to my yak. If I didn't know this technique to get rid of those severe, muiltiple charley horses I got, I would have been in trouble...

[Monty]

Thanks Dark.
4-12 hours after my fishing trips my hammies, quads, calves and that front calf thing cramp up, at times like crazy.
Get like rocks, had a quad lock up last Sunday for 10 minutes that was unreal.
After I turned 50 last year it started to happen.....

[surfstix1963]

You need to eat more fruits and food high in potassium it is usually a deficency that causes cronic cramps most people do not eat nearly enough & drink more water all the walking causes you to sweat which naturally removes salts from the body your not dehydrating per say but losing salts and this causes cramps stay away from the potassium salts you can overdose on it but eating foods and fruits it is virtually impossible to OD and see if your cramps go away. BTW if you do get alot of cramps take a bottle of gatorade this will replace some of the salts and electrolytes. Caffeine and for the power drink guys redbull etc gets the adrenaline going faster and naturally speeds up your bodily functions walking faster sweating more quicker loss of fluids and cramps.

[finchaser]

In Darks case it couldn't have anything to do with sleeping in the front bucket seat of a small car ( The Stench Mobile) and breathing toxic fumes for days on end:HappyWave:;)

[Monty]

I ate 15 bananas between Thursday and Saturday. Another 5 today. So far, no real cramps.

[DarkSkies]

In Darks case it couldn't have anything to do with sleeping in the front bucket seat of a small car ( The Stench Mobile) and breathing toxic fumes for days on end:HappyWave:;)

:moon: :2flip: :kiss: :HappyWave:


I ate 15 bananas between Thursday and Saturday. Another 5 today. So far, no real cramps.

If we ever manage to agree on a convenient date for a gathering.....I'm gonna put you and RIP up there in a banana eating contest.....:laugh: :cool:





*******


I realize I need to bump this again...I was out trolling artificials for 3 hours Sat at the end of the day into the darkness...that much trolling is pretty taxing on your legs and I had to stop twice for 10 minute intervals with severe leg cramps.

Where I was, could have been deadly if someone were to panic....and this pinching the lips method worked once more.

I was talking to UrbanFishingMan about this...he suggested Potassium tablets and more hydration....that seemed to work for me, as I was trolling and paddling for 4 hours yesterday at separate locations....thanks guys. :HappyWave:

[SurfPlug]

Great advice

[DarkSkies]

This is partly related to cramping, but more related to things that can go wrong and what to do...Plantar Fasciitis and Kayaking, a response I posted today.....Maybe it can help some out there...



Question:

My left foot has been in crippling pain for the past week. Finally got to the doc yesterday. He bent my toes back and touched a spot on the bottom of my foot and I just about jumped through the ceiling. Diagnosis is plantar fasciitis. When he asked me if there was anything new I'd been doing lately that might have caused this my hobie (bought in June) was the only thing I could think of.

I'm in good shape and generally very active- I'm either running or kayaking on the hobie 4-5 times a week, sometimes 4-5 days in a row. The doctor says apparently this is caused by over use. Has anyone else experienced this issue after using a hobie for a little while? This is incredibly painful and apparently recovery may take up to a year so I'm pretty bummed about all this. Thankfully I can still paddle!


My Response:
Ryan, I'm unlucky enough to have the same ailment. I went to the Dr and he diagnosed it as he did for you. My difference is that my pain is in my heel, while from the way you are describing yours, it seems that your pain is further up towards the middle of your foot?

When I get that pain, it's so bad I have to limp like a cripple until it goes away. Have to baby it for a few days and cut down on the physical work I do, which is hard for me because that's most of the work I'm doing. The difference here is it doesn't affect my kayakiing because my pain is chiefly in my heel. If yours is more toward the middle of your foot, that might be an issue for you.

I can tell you that for me, using the Hobie pedals has not aggravated my pain. Have been able to pedal when it starts with no real difficulty. As you said your pain may be different as every case is different.

Your Dr may give you some options like wearing shoes with arch support more often or may suggest getting custom made orthotics (inserts) to wear in your shoes to minimize this in the future. Whatever he says take his advice.

Hope this helps, good luck

[DarkSkies]

Some links that might be helpful...........

http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/sp...ntar-fasciitis (http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/sport-injuries/foot-heel-pain/plantar-fasciitis)

Causes

Plantar fasciitis or heel spurs are common in sports which involve running, dancing or jumping. Runners who overpronate (feet rolling in or flattening) are particularly at risk as the biomechanics of the foot pronating causes additional stretching of the fascia.

The most common cause is very tight calf muscles which leads to prolonged and / or high velocity pronation of the foot. This in turn produces repetitive over-stretching of the plantar fascia leading to possible inflammation and thickening of the tendon. As the fascia thickens it looses flexibility and strength
Some practitioners think overpronation can always be determined by the dropping and rolling in of the arch. This is not always the case. Sometimes it can only be seen with foot scans, especially if the patient has a high arched foot.
Other causes include low arch or high arched feet (pes planus / cavus) and other biomechanical abnormalities including oversupination (http://www.thebassbarn.com/sport-injuries/foot-heel-pain/supination) which should be assessed by a podiatrist / physiotherapist / biomechanist.
Excessive walking in footwear which does not provide adequate arch support has been attributed. Footwear for plantar fasciitis - both prevention and treatment - should be flat, lace-up and with good arch support and cushioning.




http://mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org..._fasciitis.jsp (http://mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org/ncal/facilities/region/santarosa/area_master/departments/Footandankle/footandankle_plantar_fasciitis.jsp)


What can I do for myself?
First, please review: Managing Your Heel Pain (http://mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org/ncal/mdo/presentation/heelpain/presentation/)
Many of our patients have found this 12-minute interactive online education program helpful in understanding what causes heel pain, what you can do to resolve the pain, and how to keep it from returning.
The program is simple and easy to use and it can be viewed at home, at a Kaiser Permanente Health Education Center, or anywhere with high-speed internet access. You can watch the program as many times as you like and share it with family and friends. The program will provide you with many suggestions about how to manage this common condition on your own.

Then, you should use as many of these treatments as possible concurrently:

...............(see link for continuation)

[DarkSkies]

Here is an interesting home remedy to help alleviate the problem...courtesy of a Chiropractor he went to.....



,then instructed me to roll a frozen bottle of water under my foot and a golfball on a regular basis.

Now I rarely have pain, the way he explained it was the tendons radiate from your heel out to the toes and they tense up causing the pain in the heel. Say what they may about chiropractors but this guy has been great for me.

Great advice squidder....I'm gonna give that a shot the next time my heel acts up.

[J Barbosa]

Drink lots of water every day!

[DarkSkies]

^ All good advice people.....
Monday night was the first time out walking the beaches for me in a while...I'm usually at it 5-7 nights a week when the fishing is hot...the night bite has been poor so I've been doing home projects instead....

In the 3 1/2 hour trip I must have covered 20 miles.....worked a full 12 hours before that putting in a new door and some other things...by the time I got out there I was already dog tired.....

After all that beach walking, and no sleep..... I had to stop throughout the day yesterday to deal with the severe charley horse cramping in my legs......at one point before work I was near a busy intersection in Newark and had to pull the car over to the side, they were so bad....got out and did the "pinching the lip" trick while splayed out almost prone to the car, stretching my legs....:kooky:

Most people passed me by, but one guy got of his car to ask if I was ok.......that was nice of him...must have been a weird sight for him as I still had some of my fishing gear on.....

The point to all of this, is if you are not doing this regularly, don't get into a kayak all of a sudden and decide to do a marathon 8 mile night paddle....had I been out on the yak, fatigued as I was, I could have been in a great deal of trouble if those cramps developed in my legs....