Why does my knee cramp when I exert force?

Cramps are common in daily life, especially among athletes. What should we do when cramps occur? What is the principle of cramps?

1. What is cramping?

The scientific name of cramp is muscle spasm, which is a spontaneous tonic contraction of muscles. Muscle spasms are most common in the calves and toes. The pain is unbearable during an attack, especially in the middle of the night when cramps often wake people up in pain, and the pain cannot be relieved for a long time, and it affects sleep. Leg cramps are the most common calf muscle spasms, which are manifested by the calf muscles such as the gastrocnemius suddenly becoming very hard and unbearable pain, which can last from a few seconds to tens of seconds.

2. 7 major reasons for frequent cramps

①Cold stimulation

Cold stimulation from the external environment, such as low room temperature at night in winter, using a quilt that is too thin or exposing legs and feet outside the quilt when sleeping, and low swimming water temperature in summer can easily cause leg cramps.

②Excessive fatigue

Fatigue, lack of sleep, rest or too much rest can cause accumulation of local acidic metabolites, which can cause muscle cramps. When traveling long distances, climbing mountains, or climbing high places, walking or exercising for too long, excessive fatigue of the lower limbs or lack of rest and sleep can cause lactic acid accumulation, and the calf muscles are most likely to become fatigued. When fatigue reaches a certain level, cramps will occur.

③Osteoporosis

Elderly women have decreased estrogen levels and osteoporosis, which can cause low blood calcium levels, increased muscle irritability, and frequent cramps.

④Sleeping posture

Bad sleeping posture, such as lying on your back for a long time with the quilt pressing on your feet, or lying on your stomach for a long time with your feet against the bed, forces certain calf muscles to be in an absolutely relaxed state for a long time, causing passive muscle contraction.

⑤ Calcium deficiency

Calcium ions play an important role in muscle contraction. When the concentration of calcium ions in the blood is too low, muscles are easily excited and spasm. Teenagers grow and develop rapidly and are prone to calcium deficiency, so leg cramps often occur.

⑥Muscle contraction

During intense exercise, the whole body is in a state of tension, the leg muscles contract too quickly, the relaxation time is too short, the local metabolic product lactic acid increases, the muscle contraction and relaxation are difficult to coordinate, thus causing calf muscle spasms.

7. Excessive sweating

Long exercise time. If the amount of exercise is large, sweating is heavy, and salt is not replenished in time, a large amount of fluid and electrolytes in the body will be lost, metabolic waste will accumulate, and the blood circulation in the local muscles will be poor, which will easily cause cramps.

3. What to do if you often have cramps?

Usually, you should prevent cramps, keep away cold and keep warm. Pay attention to your sleeping posture.

Proper calcium supplementation, dairy products, lean meat and other foods containing lactic acid and amino acids can promote the dissolution of calcium salts and help absorption.

Do not walk or exercise for too long. Participate in physical exercise appropriately, and do warm-up exercises thoroughly to get your body moving. This will help the blood circulation in your lower limbs to be smooth, and you can avoid leg cramps when you participate in various intense sports or competitions.

When cramps occur, do the opposite, bend your toes in the opposite direction of the force and hold for more than 1-2 minutes, and you will see results. Specifically, if the muscles behind the calf cramp, you can bend your foot to lift the sole while straightening your knee as much as possible. When the muscles in the front of the calf cramp, you can press the sole and bend the toes with force.