A charlie horse is essentially a tensing or hardening feeling that occurs within one of your skeletal muscles. This essentially means that any muscle that you are able to control yourself (skeletal muscle) can begin to uncontrollably cramp or spasm if one of these occurrences were to happen, and the result is almost always extremely painful. Many people claim to feel soreness or dull pain within a muscle after experiencing a charlie horse for weeks after. There are quite a few small changes that you can make to your lifestyle and dieting habits to help your body become more resistant or less likely to cramp, and also some remedies that actually help to stop an unexpected cramp or charlie horse right in it’s tracks.
Understanding your muscles and how they respond to exercise is the first step towards understanding and overcoming this common occurrence. A cramp that occurs during strenuous activity or shortly thereafter can be taken as a message from your body, simply telling you that it has been pushed too hard. Gradually increasing your physical stamina and endurance is a necessity for professional athletes of all types, and this same principle should be applied to even the most basic of activities – even something as simple as using scissors for too long can cause charlie horses. On the flip-side, neglecting to stretch and exercise your muscles for too long can also cause a sudden charlie horse to strike while you are sleeping or at any point during the day – you could even get one while reading this article.
After you have a grasp on positive exercise habits that you will have to pick up on if you hope to rid yourself of painful muscle cramps, you will then need to look into your dieting tendencies and the amount of vitamins and minerals that your body is receiving on a daily basis. Potassium and magnesium have both been found to help in preventing charlie horses, so you will want to always have plenty of these minerals, especially within the 24-48 hour period before any strenuous physical activity. Apart from these essential minerals, hydrating your body and making sure that it has plenty of electrolytes to function is also a good counter-measure towards cramps. Unfortunately, these basic changes to the things you eat will often times not be enough to stop the charlie horses from occurring altogether if you suffer from a more severe case or chronic occurrences.
Organic remedies appear to be the most effective in treating charlie horses or muscle cramps that occur at night or during physical activity, and this is very likely the road you should take if you decide that your situation cannot be dealt with through small lifestyle changes alone. Prescription drugs and painkillers will do little to help the dull pain that is left behind after a cramp, and the medications take way too long to kick in to be of any help during an actual charlie horse. An Amish remedy has recently made it’s way to the market, and this seems to be the most effective remedy currently available for those that would like an honest recommendation.
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