Muscle cramps can be a minor annoyance, or they can be a more intense pain that requires immediate stopping of all activity. Anyone could experience cramping or spasms inside the muscles, and they can occur for a variety of reasons.
It is important for runners to be aware of what they are and how they are treated, so they can tend to them if they happen to occur while they are out on a run alone.
With a bit of common information, you can keep yourself safe and prevent a lot of the cramps that may come from your training as a runner.
The good news is these running cramps do not take runners out of the race. Most are able to stop for a moment to relieve the cramping and then continue on their way.
Muscle Cramps Explained
Muscle cramps tight contractions of the muscles that are not brought on intentionally by the sufferer. They are considered involuntary because they can strike anyone at any moment and for a variety of reasons. In many cases, the reasons are completely unknown.
If you have ever suddenly felt tension in a spot of your body with pain and perhaps felt a twitching under the skin, you have experienced muscle cramps and perhaps muscle spasms.
In more extreme situations, the muscle may spasm and seize up without relaxing back out on its own. For the most part, the cramping is temporary and the muscle will calm back down independently.
Since the muscles in the legs are more likely to cramp up involuntarily, runners are at increased risk of experiencing cramps.
Common Causes
There are many potential causes for muscle cramps, and many of them are problems that can be experienced very easily by runners.
For example, some of the leading causes are dehydration, electrolyte depletion, and muscle fatigue. These are all problems that can be experienced by runners if they are going out for intense training runs without proper hydration.
If the muscles are not strong enough to handle the amount of running being performed, then they can easily become overwhelmed and get fatigued during a long run.
It is also believed that intense activity can cause muscle cramps if the muscles are not fit enough to handle the intensity. This puts new runners at risk, since they may try to run too hard or too long before their muscles are strong enough to handle that activity.
Treatment Options
Most muscle cramps will simply stop on their own within a few seconds. They may pulse in and out a few beats before coming to a complete stop, but in most cases all you have to do is stop moving around.
If the pain is more severe, you can stretch the muscle out and hold it in stretched position until it comes to a stop. This stretch should be very gentle to avoid injuring the muscle. Light massaging over the muscle may help in some cases as well.
In most cases, you do not need to do anything but stop what you are doing and wait for it to stop cramping.
If you feel twitching, then you are dealing with a muscle spasm that may require a bit of a stretch and massage.
How to Prevent Muscle Cramps
Since you never know when cramps are going to hit and you never know exactly what is causing them, you can never completely prevent them from occurring. Yet, runners can do some things to rule out some of the more commonly causes:
- Drinking lots of water before, during and after runs.
- Building up electrolyte balances in the body by drinking sports drinks during runs that last an hour or longer. The sports drink can be consumed rather than water.
- Building up strength in the lower body muscles so they are better able to handle the demands of running without becoming fatigued.
- Never skipping the warm up and cool down, and always stretching the muscles after an intense workout.
- Keeping the muscles well stretched and toned, even when not exercising.
All of these prevention measures are things that runners should be doing regardless. These are basic safety practices to care for the body to prevent a variety of running injuries. Unfortunately, even when all of these things are performed correctly, running cramps may still be experienced by some runners. There is no proven cause for this.
Do you want to get more tips on how to prevent and cope with running injuries? You should give Running Doc’s Guide to Healthy Running
Recommended further reading:
- How to prevent achilles tendonitis
- How to prevent ankle sprains
- How to prevent blisters
- How to prevent DOMS
- How to prevent hamstring injuries
- How to prevent overtraining syndrome
- How to prevent plantar fasciitis
- How to prevent shin splints
- How to prevent stress fractures
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