Types of cramps

Muscle cramps can be divided into different types. Paraphysiological cramps are the most common types of cramps and occur as a result of very intensive muscle strain, such as that which can occur after a competition (marathon, soccer match, etc.). Symptomatic cramps are usually caused by a neurological or internal disease and have nothing to do with overloading or a lack of minerals.Causes of symptomatic cramps are often basic internal diseases such as circulatory disorders, leg edemas and uremia (urinary poisoning).

Neurological diseases can be nerve damage, ALS (a chronic degenerative disease of the central nervous system) or an increased excitability of the skeletal muscles. Idiopathic spasms have no identifiable cause and occur randomly. Many women experience abdominal cramps during pregnancy.

The reason for this is the unusually heavy strain on ligaments, veins, muscles and organs in the abdominal and pelvic area that occurs during pregnancy. In the same way, pregnancy can lead to cramps in the calves. The reason for this is that a much higher weight is placed on the legs than usual.

The cramps often occur when standing or walking for a long time. In this case, it can improve if you simply sit down for a short time or even lie down. It is best to lie down on the non-painful side with your feet pointing upwards as well.

It is important that you try to relax and not work against the cramps. Although abdominal cramps during pregnancy often have no serious cause, it is still advisable to tell the gynecologist about the pain. The reason for cramps can also be serious diseases such as appendicitis, kidney stones and benign tumors in the uterus, so-called myomas.

Many pregnant women report having night cramps. These result from an unbalanced magnesium balance during pregnancy. Due to the increased need for magnesium, especially in the second half of the pregnancy, and a shift in fluid and minerals, there is often a deficiency, which can then lead to cramps due to the muscles’ increased willingness to contract.

As a preventive measure, an adapted intake of magnesium is recommended. Another mineral in the blood is phosphorus; if too much of it is present in the blood, this can lead to cramps. A lot of phosphorus is found, for example, in convenience foods and all carbonated drinks.

Stretching of the affected muscle can be helpful in shortening cramps. In the calf, it helps to lift the tip of the foot. Massage is another way to relax overactive muscles.

And heat is also a good way to calm the muscles. You can also try it with walking back and forth, also movement of the muscle can help to end the cramp. If the pain and cramps persist, they can be worried that they cannot be relieved by the above-mentioned measures or that symptoms such as swelling and overheating may occur.

Then it is advisable to consult a doctor. Cramps of the striated muscles, i.e. the muscles which are to be palpated directly under the skin and which, among other things, contribute to locomotion, can be caused on the one hand by purely mechanical entanglements and twisting of the individual muscle fibers, and on the other hand, imbalances of the minerals important for muscle contraction can also lead to cramps. It often happens that, especially during sleep, one lies so unfavorably that one unconsciously carries out unfavorable stretches, especially in the legs, and this leads to an entanglement of the corresponding muscle fibers and causes cramps.

Usually under strong pain the affected persons wake up and can feel a hardening and thickening at the affected place, which dissolves after some moments under pain relief again. A muscle movement can only take place if the body has a balanced ratio of the minerals calcium, magnesium and potassium. Magnesium ensures that potassium flows into the muscle cell, which ensures that muscle contraction is stopped.

Furthermore, potassium reduces the influx of calcium into the muscle, which in turn is necessary to initiate muscle movement. Magnesium is therefore involved in two different ways in stopping a muscle movement. If there is a lack of magnesium in the body, the muscle contraction is not stopped properly, resulting in a permanent contraction which is then experienced as a painful cramp or spasm by those affected.

Since potassium is also involved in stopping a muscle contraction, a deficiency of this mineral also leads to muscle cramps. In addition to the muscles that are responsible for body movements, most organs, in contrast, have so-called smooth muscles. These muscle cells differ in their structure from the striated muscles.The biggest difference is that these muscles cannot be moved consciously.

If the heart or intestine could be controlled by the will, the consequences could be disastrous. A mineral deficiency plays a rather subordinate role in the cramping of organs. The same applies to the mechanical component.

Rather, it is inflammation or toxins (noxious substances) that affect the organ in question and thus lead to cramp-like symptoms. Organs most frequently affected by cramps are organs of the gastrointestinal tract, lungs and bronchi, kidneys and urinary organs. Well known to everyone and therefore the most common form, are stomach cramps.

Anyone who has ever eaten the wrong food, which for example contained the bacterium Staph. aureus (the most common pathogen of harmless gastroenteritis), knows what painful and cramp-like symptoms can result from this. Usually these cramps subside after a few minutes, but then increase in intensity again.

Going to the toilet, with mostly liquid stools, also leads to improvement. In the case of stomach cramps, it is easy to see that this is not a mechanical cause or a mineral imbalance, but rather a noxious agent (in this case a bacterium) that irritates the stomach and intestinal mucosa and thus leads to cramp-like symptoms. Neurological cramps, also known as epileptic cramps (epilepsy), have a completely different cause.

Neurological processes are mainly influenced by the influx of sodium and the outflow of potassium. Glutamate and gamma-amino-butyric acid are factors that end nerve conduction. In the central nervous system, the balance of the individual substances is much more important than in the cells of the striated muscles, because a disproportion of the individual substances lowers the so-called cramp threshold.

If this threshold is exceeded, those affected begin to cramp. The extent to which this happens depends on the type of spasm (different types of spasm are tonic spasms, clonic spasms, tonic-clonic spasms, focal seizures, generalized seizures, absences and some more). The cramping threshold cannot usually be raised by adding any minerals, as is the case with the striated muscle cell, since it is not only an influenceable imbalance of the substances also known as neurotransmitters, but also many factors, some of which have not yet been identified.

The probability of getting a cramp increases with lack of sleep, increased alcohol consumption, bleeding or vascular occlusion in the brain and much more. A genetically inherited component of seizures is also known. In contrast to non-neurological seizures of the striated muscles, where the seizures occur directly at the respective muscle cells, the cause of neurological seizures is in the brain.

Nevertheless, a muscle contraction of the mostly striated musculature occurs. If the neurological spasm is accompanied by a rapid change between tensing and slackening of the corresponding muscle cells, this is known as a tonic-clonic seizure. If only one region of the body is affected, it is called a focal seizure; if the whole body is affected, it is called a systematized seizure.

Neurological seizures are usually accompanied by unconsciousness, and those affected do not notice anything. The greatest danger of epileptic seizures lies in an uncontrolled fall, with often massive and life-threatening injuries. A neurological seizure can last from a few seconds to half an hour.

If the seizure lasts up to half an hour, it is essential to stop the seizure with medication, as there is a danger to life. Short seizures do not necessarily have to be treated at the time of the seizure. Particularly in small children, there is sometimes a sudden rise in very high body temperatures which occurs in connection with neurological cramps.

This complex of symptoms is also known as febrile convulsions. Children who show such symptoms should definitely be examined in a pediatric clinic. Often even taken by helicopter to the pediatric clinic, only a slightly elevated body temperature is usually indicative of a recent febrile convulsion.

The causes of a febrile convulsion can be infections, genetic causes, age-specific brain changes as well as temperature sensitivity of GABA receptors in the brain.10-20% of all newborns suffer from this clinical picture. The cramp-like abdominal pain usually begins at the age of 2-4 weeks and ends at about three months. The pain usually begins in the afternoon and continues into the late evening.

The pain usually begins directly after meals. The cause is seen in the still immature digestive tract of the child, which makes particularly strong movements during mealtime intake, which are then perceived as pain. It is also discussed whether the pain is caused by excessive intestinal gas development. The prototype of a hormone-induced cramp is cycle-related menstrual cramps. Younger women in particular, whose bodies have yet to adjust to a balanced hormone balance, often react to an imbalance in female hormones with cramp-like pain in the lower abdomen, which usually subsides after the end of the period.