Ouch!!: Part Two

   The night before last I was dramatically reminded of one of the sports-related "ouches" I had forgotten to mention in the post I wrote called "Ouch!!"
   I had been sitting in my comfy chair in the livingroom with one leg curled under the other for likely about an hour, while working on the laptop. It came time to un-curl and the inside of my right thigh went straight into cramp mode. The pain was quite excruciating and I had to get Doralyn to come and get the laptop out of my hands because I was unable to put it down anywhere safely. She then started to massage the cramped area, which provided at least a little relief. The cramp itself probably lasted about five minutes.
   I've had a problem with muscle cramps for several years now. They generally occur after some kind of sports activity during which I've lost a lot of fluid. They do, however, occasionally pop up right out of the blue, as they did the other evening. Most of the time, I am able to feel them building up and am able to quickly stretch out the offending muscle before a full-blown cramp settles in. I had no advance warning of this latest one, though, it just kind of hit me all of the sudden and got hold of me before I could do anything.
   At this point, there doesn't seem to be a real consensus as to the cause of cramps. Part of the reason for this is that they have been unable to successfully reproduce sports-type muscle cramps in a lab setting in order to come up with a controlled study. Historically, though, they have been linked to dehydration and electrolyte depletion. Sodium, potassium, and calcium depletion are also blamed. Muscle fatigue and overuse seem associated.

   For my part, I try and stretch all the important muscles before I get involved in a physical activity and I do my best to stay hydrated and every once in awhile I stretch after exercise. Cramps can occur after prolonged periods of being in the same position and I'm thinking this may have been what happened the other night. I guess I just need to get up and moving around on a more regular basis. This is not bad advice for anyone, really, athlete or not. The worst case of muscle cramping I ever personally experienced was one time after playing goal in ball hockey, sweating off about four pounds, coming home, grabbing some pop and then lying on the floor in front of the T.V. for about an hour and a half. At the end of that, I attempted to get up off the floor and suffered cramps in both calves and the front of both thighs. Thought death was imminent, actually. After probably ten minutes they fully subsided and I was able to at least get up off the floor, at last. Since then, I've tried religiously not to be too sedentary right after heavy physical exertion.

What my leg felt like the other night

   Muscle cramps are probably my biggest medical concern right at the moment, at least as far as running is concerned. So far, I've been able to avoid shin splints, plantar fasciitis, gout, knee strain and chafed nipples(giggle). I am, however, a neophyte who is still running short distances. Should I ever get to the point where I am running 10K on a regular basis in hot weather and such, then I'm sure I could very well end up dealing with some of the above and, hopefully, not worse.
   Healthy running, everyone!