Massage Therapy for Muscle Cramps

Muscular cramps happen most often in legs. The leg muscles are vulnerable to cramping because they're large muscles that do a lot of work. Cramps in the hamstrings and quadriceps are both common, but from my experience I'd say that the most common type of leg cramps is the calf muscle cramp.

There are a few things that contribute to getting muscle cramps. It used to be that lack of salt was the major cause of cramps, but we get so much salt in our diet these days in the form of processed foods so that's probably not the problem. Here are some other more likely contributing factors:

• Lack of potassium can cause muscles to cramp. Potassium helps regulate your muscle's activity and is important for healthy muscle function.
• Electrolyte imbalance can happen easily if you're doing a lot of strenuous activity that makes you sweat and you're not properly replacing lost electrolytes.
• Overwork can also contribute. If you work out too hard or strain lifting too much weight, your muscle could go into spasm.
• Dehydration occurs when you don't drink enough fluids. If your muscles are dehydrated they don't have the lubrication they need to function correctly.

If you weren't sleeping when your cramp occurred, you can do a few things to follow up. Try putting ice on the area. Remember that when you do ice an area you shouldn't apply ice for longer than 15 minutes every hour.

Once you've iced it you can do some petrissage on the area to get the blood flowing properly. When a muscle cramps up it restricts the blood flow to the tissue.

After a good massage be sure to stretch the area. The stretching will also help loosen the muscle tissue even more.

Sometimes the area where the leg cramp was will remain sore even after the cramp has gone away. This happens because some muscle fibers may have been damaged or torn because the cramp was so intense. Getting a massage from a professional therapist will help you deal with that injury.
  

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