How to Prevent Muscle Cramps and Strains
A muscle cramp can be one of the fallouts of exercise, especially on hot days. Suppose for example, the muscle in your arm or leg suddenly—and painfully—knots itself into a tight fist. Cramps can also occur when you move around in bed or even when you're simply taking a nap.
A muscle strain is more serious, especially when it affects the muscles in the back. A strain involves injury not only to muscles, but also to ligaments, tendons, or blood vessels surrounding a bone joint. The injured tissue is either pulled, stretched, wrenched, or torn during physical activity (like when you took that flying leap across the room during your first dance class in thirty years!).
Treating Muscle Cramps
Muscle cramps are easy to fix and do not require emergency first aid. Treat them in this way:
- Stretch out the muscle as soon as you feel a cramp.
- Massage the knotted muscle with the heel of the hand for several minutes.
- Follow the massage with a warm bath, warm wet compresses, or a heating pad to provide soothing heat. This should release the knot.
Muscle cramps commonly affect the calf or the heel of the foot during exercise or team sports. If this happens to someone you're with, have him or her perform a forward stretch in which the cramped leg leans forward and the cramped foot is flat on the floor. Then massage the cramp while in this position.
Treating Muscle Strains
You treat muscle strains by doing the exact opposite of what you would do for a cramp.
- Do not stretch or massage the muscle; instead keep it at rest.
- Elevate a strained arm or leg to prevent swelling.
- Think cold: place cold wet cloths or a cold compress on the muscle. The appropriate technique for “icing” an injury is to wrap ice in a clean cloth and alternately apply the ice to the injury for 20 minutes, remove the ice for 20 minutes, and reapply (with fresh ice) for 20 minutes. Repeat this cycle for the first full day. You need to keep the muscle cold for the first 24 hours to prevent the muscle fiber from swelling, which could touch a nerve and cause even more pain.
- After 24 hours, turn to warmth: use hot wet compresses to soothe the muscle. The warmth increases blood circulation and aids faster healing.
- Ibuprofen can help ease the pain and reduce inflammation.
Before You Put the Band-Aid On
Cramps and strains require different treatment. So how can you tell the difference between the two? A cramp hurts less, and the pain is usually more localized. A strain causes severe pain and possible swelling.
Warning Signs of Other Conditions
A muscle cramp can be a result of too much exercise or a sudden wrong move, but it can also signal too much stress—or worse. If any cramp keeps coming back, it could be a warning sign of a serious disease. Check with your physician.
When your neck and shoulders cramp up, it's a good idea to stop what you are doing, roll your head from side-to-side, and shrug your shoulders. Relaxation exercises and meditation can also help this side effect of stress.
When your stomach cramps, it can signal gastric distress or even appendicitis. And as your mother used to warn you, stomach cramps in the water can be serious. Although you don't necessarily get a stomach cramp if you go swimming after a meal, if they do occur, you could lose control and drown.
Strains, too, can lead to more serious situations. A strained back can leave you incapacitated for days—or weeks. Sometimes simple strains are combined with broken bones. And a severe strain might signal internal bleeding and swelling. If a strain doesn't go away after you follow the basic first aid treatment, see a physician.
Excerpted from The Complete Idiot's Guide to First Aid Basics © 1996 by Stephen J. Rosenberg, M.D. and Karla Dougherty. All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Used by arrangement with Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
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