What to do if you have a thigh cramp? You should know the first aid measures

Many people have experienced leg cramps, which are more common when sleeping and also easy to occur during exercise. If you have thigh cramps, you can squat immediately. If you often have cramps, you can also soak your feet before going to bed.

1. When you notice a muscle cramp, immediately stop any current activity or exercise.

Because the true mechanism that causes cramps is not yet known, most research results believe that muscle cramps are caused by a decrease in the nerve or neuromuscular stress threshold, which causes a sudden increase in the frequency of muscle nerve action, causing muscle tonic contraction. Therefore, if you get cramps during mountain climbing, you should immediately sit on the ground and keep still.

2. According to the different parts of the body where the spasm occurs, different muscle stretching first aid methods should be adopted until the spasm and pain gradually disappear.

When you have a leg cramp, do not bend your knees, but straighten the cramped leg, and use your thumb to feel between the hard and protruding muscles on both sides, and apply strong pressure there to calm the nerves that dominate the excitement;

If you have a cramp in the front of your thigh, you can squat or put your wrists behind your knees and bend your legs backward to straighten the muscles in the front of your thigh;

If your arm cramps, you must gently straighten your arm and apply firm pressure to the painful spot;

When your abdomen cramps, lie down flat immediately, gently raise your abdomen, put your lumbar spine in a forward position, and straighten your abdominal muscles.

3. If you still feel muscle soreness and tightness after gently massaging the spasmed muscles during first aid, you need to apply cold compresses.

4. Soak your feet before going to bed. Before going to bed every day, soak your feet in hot water at about 40 degrees Celsius (preferably up to the ankle joints). When the water cools down, pour in hot water to maintain the water temperature. Soak for 15 to 20 minutes. Soaking your feet in hot water before going to bed can promote peripheral blood circulation, relax muscles and relieve spasms.

5. Toe exercise. Stand up with your shoes off (to prevent falling, you can hold onto a table, chair or other fixed object), tense your calf muscles, stand on your toes and lift your heels as much as possible, hold for 10 seconds, then put them down, rest for a few seconds and then continue. Repeat this for 10 to 15 minutes, once in the morning and once in the evening. The effect will be better if you combine it with ankle rotation. Regular toe exercises can stimulate the acupuncture points on the feet, promote blood circulation, increase skin temperature, increase muscle strength, relieve calf cramps, and have a good training effect on the lower limb muscles and knee joints.