Exercise after a nasty cramp?

TeaTimeJess

So in the middle of the night last night I got a pretty nasty Charlie horse, first in years, and this morning I'm still feeling the pain so much so that I'm having to limp. It's in my calf so I'd assume I shouldn't do my regular workout and should just do stretches instead until the pain goes away? Any suggestions for easing the pain also?

I'm doing a workout program too so if I do skip I'm wondering if I should push everything back a day or just call today a scratch and pick up with tomorrow's. (Assuming I don't feel better tonight.)

jemhh

Do you usually workout at night? I would plan on staying on schedule and working out tonight. You will likely find that it goes away once you are up and moving for the day.

TeaTimeJess

Usually in the morning. That's a good idea, I'll see how today goes! Thanks!

_Waffle_

So in the middle of the night last night I got a pretty nasty Charlie horse, first in years, and this morning I'm still feeling the pain so much so that I'm having to limp.

I get those occasionally. When you get them it's important to get up out of bed and stand on your legs quickly. Using your muscles always makes it stop right away for me. If you just lie there in bed it takes much longer to go away and you'll be limping around the next day.

It should get better throughout the day and it probably won't be a big deal by tonight.

wkwebby

Have you kept up with the electrolytes in your diet (i.e. sodium and potassium)? We always stress the water levels on this website, but for active people, we should also have our electrolytes in check. If you haven't had a cramp for a while, maybe you've had less potassium in your diet lately?

But yes, I've just kind of worked a little less intensively after a cramp (walked instead of run, etc). I do OCR's and mud runs and in the past have always cramped during them until I loaded up with spinach and broccoli the week before. Voila! No more cramping during the runs and races.

bitten2better

As far as a 'big picture' sort of thing... you also need to try to figure out the cause of this cramp so that it doesn't continue to happen and set back your workouts even more!

Some possible causes:
Dehydration
Overuse
Muscular injury
Inadequate stretching

TeaTimeJess

I usually just drink water so it could be a lacking of something in my diet! I haven't been eating as well as I normally do the past week or so due to school and work schedules clashing a lot so I'll focus on getting that back on track and see if it helps.

Oh gosh I don't know if I could stand on it when it happens. I was actually asleep and started just screaming I guess and didn't wake up right away before my roommate came in like what's going on?! Haha. If it hadn't hurt so bad it would have been quite comical I'm sure. I did manage to walk over and got some warm towels and massage so that helped a bit.

_Waffle_

Oh gosh I don't know if I could stand on it when it happens. I was actually asleep and started just screaming I guess and didn't wake up right away before my roommate came in like what's going on?! Haha. If it hadn't hurt so bad it would have been quite comical I'm sure. I did manage to walk over and got some warm towels and massage so that helped a bit.

You might think that but trust me. The difference between walking on it and not getting up to walk during a cramp can't be understated. You'll cut the time your muscle is cramping in half easily.

jemhh

The other thing to do during a Charlie horse is push down with your heel while flexing your toes up. You can do it while lying down. I used to get them when I was pregnant and would practice doing this during the day so that I didn't do the opposite (point toes down) when I woke up in the middle of the night.