Legs cramped: major causes and help with an attack

Did you ever feel that your legs were cramping? This is a complex reaction of the body caused by internal or external stimuli. Its mechanisms can be different, the reason in each case is individual. In fact, convulsions are involuntary painful contractions of striated muscles (skeletal) of paroxysmal nature. They may not be the same in intensity, duration, prevalence.

Types of seizures

Depending on the duration of muscle spasms, distinguish between clonic (short-term) and tonic (long-term) convulsions. In the first case, the attack is characterized by rapid stereotyped contractions and muscle relaxations resembling a nervous tic. In the second, the cramps last for up to three minutes and even more and manifest as an unexpected painful hardening of the muscles. In this case, it becomes impossible to arbitrarily manage them. If your legs are cramped so that the contractions occur in almost all muscles, then there are generalized spasms, usually resulting from serious illnesses. They are often accompanied by a violation or loss of consciousness, and in some cases may even be life-threatening. More often localized convulsions (also called local ones) occur when only one muscle group is cut (often the muscles of the hips or legs). It also happens that they eventually become generalized, for example in tetanus.

Concentrates his leg with a spasm: causes

Tonic localized contractions can occur as a result of disturbances in the electrolyte and biochemical composition of the blood, the loss of a large quantity of salts by the body, the lack of vitamin D. The reason that your legs cramps up may be a sharp increase in body temperature, which is associated with some illness or thermal Impact. Often, involuntary muscle contraction is a consequence of overstraining of the legs, which happens, for example, when walking in high-heeled shoes or squatting for a long time.

The basis of why it reduces the cramp of calves in the legs or thighs may be a focus of irritation in the brain. This is typical in the case of a beginning stroke or already after recovery after it, alcohol intoxication, infection with the nervous system (for example, with the flu). The localization of seizures depends on which part of the motor area of the brain has been irritated.

Reductions in the lower limbs can also provoke hypoxia - oxygen deficiency as a result of vascular disorders. Another reason is a lack of blood sugar. If the legs cramped in healthy people, this means that the body reacted in this way to some powerful stimulus, for example intoxication, being in a stuffy room, and severe overwork.

How to remove a seizure

Walk along the cold surface. If you can not step on your leg, lie down, pull it forward, and pull the sock toward you. After this, vigorously rub the tension muscles. You can mix a teaspoon of olive oil with two teaspoons of mustard and apply the mixture to the affected area. If convulsions are accompanied by painful sensations, take any pain medication, preferably "Aspirin" (if there are no contraindications), because, in addition to relieving pain, it will also improve microcirculation in the vessels.