Introduction
Calf cramps are the involuntary twitching and cramping of the calf muscles in the lower leg. They can occur in any situation, but especially at night they occur frequently. They often rob the affected person of sleep, although in many cases not even a cause is clearly found. Whether sportsmen or not, calf cramps can occur in everyone from nowhere.
Causes
The occurrence of calf cramps at night is in most cases “multifactorial”. This means that they cannot be traced back to one problem. In addition, many calf cramps do not even have a fathomable or obvious cause.
In this case they are called “idiopathic”. Rare causes of calf cramps are a number of chronic metabolic diseases. These include diabetes, thyroid dysfunction or diseases of the kidney metabolism.
Since muscles are sensitive to disturbances in the balance of electrolytes, any influence on them can be a trigger for calf cramps, as can certain medications or temporary illnesses with vomiting and diarrhea. If the cause does not lie in the body’s salt balance, the nerve that transmits the electrical impulse to the calf muscles may be damaged. A large number of nervous diseases can trigger this, many of which are summarized under the term “polyneuropathies”.
Likewise rarely are circulatory disorders behind it, which can occur in the context of many illnesses particularly at the leg. In most cases, however, the cause lies in the muscle itself. Less frequent are muscle diseases such as myotonia or metabolic myopathies, which are more often seen in early childhood.
In almost all cases, the calf cramp is caused by incorrect loading of the muscles. Excessive strain occurs, for example, in pregnant women, overweight persons and athletes. Insufficient water supply combined with sweating shifts the body’s salt balance, which also frequently causes calf cramps in the aforementioned groups.
Also a hypothermia of the muscle, as it can occur during swimming or sports in winter temperatures, causes the cramps. Permanent malpositioning, for example overextension of the foot, can also trigger a calf cramp. This happens mainly when the affected joint is immobile or when the patient is out of position while sleeping. By deliberately hyperextending the foot for a certain period of time, a calf cramp can often even be consciously induced.
