Everyone knows from their own experience what convulsions are. At least as it manifests itself - frequent, strong uncontrolled muscle contraction, usually accompanied by severe pain.

If this was an isolated case, then the person does not even think about why the muscles cramp, but when it becomes a regular occurrence, the question arises: how to solve this problem.

Categories of people prone to seizures

1. There are certain groups of people most often prone to seizures:
2. First of all, these are athletes who put their muscles under extreme stress. Most often these are runners and other athletes. Athletes' leg muscles experience multiple loads during training and cramps become an almost daily occurrence.
3. People over 40 years old, their muscles weaken due to age-related changes, and the load is still familiar. In addition, the level of temperature sensitivity and lack of fluid in an elderly person is greatly reduced, which leads to disruption of muscle tissue. In older people, muscles cramp at night, after a hard day.
4. Night cramps in children, unfortunately, are not uncommon.
5. Overweight people make up a small percentage of those suffering from seizures.
6. Patients undergoing a long course of treatment with various medications.
7. Pregnant women.

In addition, nocturnal leg cramps occur in people with cirrhosis of the liver, hypothyroidism, adrenal hypofunction, and neurological diseases.

Causes of seizures

Despite the fact that in modern medicine risk groups for the occurrence of seizures are quite strictly defined, there are no scientifically based causes of muscle spasm yet. However, there are several hypotheses that more or less plausibly explain this phenomenon. One of them says that anomalies in the mechanism of muscle contraction are caused by poor stretching of the muscle. According to another theory, the cause is an imbalance of electrolytes in muscle tissues, namely calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium.

The theory of impaired neuro-muscular communication is considered by most scientists studying the muscles of athletes. They explain convulsions with a violation of the connection between the cerebral cortex and the spinal cord. In general, scientists studying all theories of the occurrence of convulsive spasms have developed a list of causes that satisfy all areas of medicine:

1. Diseases of the endocrine system - the thyroid gland, adrenal glands, pituitary gland and hypothalamus. All this leads to an imbalance of hormonal levels in the blood.
2. Low sugar content. Usually this phenomenon occurs on the basis of non-compliance with the insulin regimen and the wrong diet, a person with diabetes.
3. Strong prolonged load on the leg muscles associated with some sports; football, athletics, swimming and the like.
4. The calf muscles most often reduce due to thrombophlebitis or varicose veins.
5. Atherosclerosis, which is expressed by a violation of blood circulation in the legs.
6. Circulatory disorders caused by cardiovascular diseases. In this case, most often seizures occur on the soles of the feet.
7. Diseases of the spine, such as intervertebral hernia or osteochondrosis.
8. Too much estrogen in a woman's blood. Most often, this situation occurs with pregnant women.
9. Prolonged stress and sleep disturbance.

There are a number of reasons for the appearance of muscle cramps, they are caused by the lifestyle and behavior of the person himself, this is wearing high-heeled shoes, untreated viral diseases, improper and irregular nutrition, alcohol abuse, smoking. All this can cause vasospasm and disrupt the balance of salts and minerals in the body. Which, accordingly, leads to night cramps or muscle spasms at the most unexpected moment.

Seizure symptoms

Cramps are very different, they affect all muscle groups from the smallest, for example, on the eyelids, to the long muscles of the back and biceps on the leg. Their intensity is also different, in some cases, if a leg cramps, a person cannot move, and sometimes he does not even notice a slight twitching of a small muscle. A severely contracted muscle is usually very painful, and the pain may persist for several hours or days after the spasm has passed.

Cause Diagnosis

Seizures and the causes of their occurrence is a topic for discussion with the doctor. After all, this problem can be diagnosed even during the collection of anamnesis. The doctor learns in a conversation with the patient about his habits, daily routine and his diet. All this information provided to the doctor in a confidential conversation can suggest why cramps in the legs, arms or other muscles.

In addition, a doctor can detect anemia and low levels of potassium and magnesium in the blood by chronic fatigue, drowsiness, and weakness in the muscles. A blood test can confirm this.

Psychoneurological abnormalities are diagnosed by sleep disturbance, general nervousness of the patient, his irritability, as well as the presence of nightmares. In this case, daytime cramps and nocturnal cramps, or rather their intensity and frequency, can help clarify the diagnosis.

An imbalance of hormones and trace elements can also be indicated by the appearance of the patient, these are brittle hair, exfoliating nails, pale skin, cold extremities, bad teeth, as well as tachycardia and arrhythmia. Against the background of such manifestations, the patient may be assigned an additional consultation with specialized specialists; gastroenterologist, immunologist, cardiologist, and so on. Only a comprehensive and complete study will answer why it cramps muscles.

First aid for seizures

What to do if a leg or other muscle is cramped, and there is no doctor nearby? First you need to stop and give the reduced muscle peace, try to relax it.

Then you need to stretch the muscle, because a cramp is an uncontrolled contraction. For example, with a cramp in the calf muscle, it is enough to pull the hoop of the legs up to the kneecap, this will greatly stretch the calf muscles. And the hamstring muscle is stretched manually by straightening the leg at the knee. After the cramp has stopped, you can not move for another 10-15 minutes, muscle tension during this period can resume the spasm.

When there is severe pain during convulsions, the injured person does not know what to do at that moment, he simply cannot figure it out from shock. In this case, you need to give him a massage of the reduced muscle and if the pain does not let go for a long time, bandage this area with a tight bandage.

Treatment for seizures

Since convulsions and seizures are usually the result of various systemic disorders and diseases, it is they who are treated, and not their symptoms. If such diseases are not detected by diagnostic measures, a number of procedures are prescribed to either reduce or even eliminate muscle spasms:

1. Diet. First of all, the amount of food eaten at a time is reduced. The entire daily diet of a person is divided into 6-7 meals during the day. The portions are quite small though. This will help not to burden the digestive system and maximize the release of useful trace elements from food.
2. The products that make up the diet are also being reviewed. The patient is instructed to eat more fresh vegetables and fruits. Vegetable soups, cereals, as well as non-fat, boiled meat. As a rule, it is beef or chicken. It is strongly not recommended to consume fatty, fried sheep meat, as well as to abuse alcohol, spicy spices and smoked meats.
3. Physical activity is reviewed by a physiotherapist or coach if the patient is an active athlete.
4. Smoking is strictly prohibited.
5. To relieve the syndromes manifested by muscle spasms, a person’s sleep is necessarily improved. He should go to bed and get up at the same time, and sleep at least 8 hours a day. The right bed also matters; the head should lie just above the legs, and the mattress should be of medium firmness for better blood circulation.
6. Every day you need to take foot baths, with the addition of sea salt to them. It relaxes and tones the muscles very well, and also ensures good blood circulation in them.
7. Baths should be alternated with foot massage. It also improves blood circulation.
8. A person suffering from muscle spasms in the legs should give up high-heeled shoes for a long time. The maximum allowable heel height should not exceed 5 cm. This recommendation primarily applies to women. It is advisable for men to switch to soft moccasins or sneakers for a while. Orthopedic insoles can be ordered for a child, since the health of the foot must be monitored from an early age in order to avoid flat feet.
9. If a person is diagnosed with varicose veins, he is recommended to wear special tight bandages, and for women, tight stockings. Only a doctor recommends such devices; you cannot choose them yourself, since it is impossible to guess the optimal degree of vascular compression. This can only be calculated by a specialist.
10. Many patients with voluntary muscle spasms are prescribed courses of vitamins and minerals. Appointments are prescribed by doctors, you do not need to do this yourself.

Prevention of seizures

In order to avoid painful muscle spasms in the future, some preventive measures can be taken. You need to understand that giving up bad habits, a healthy diet, regular and good sleep, will restore health to the body by itself, and the muscles will work without comment.

But in order to enhance the preventive effect, you can regularly perform a set of physical exercises aimed at stretching the muscles and improving blood circulation in them. It is especially important to do them before starting sports training or upcoming physical activity:

• The toe of the left foot should be placed on the wall so that the heel remains on the floor. At the same time, the body must be kept straight, and the right leg should be set back a little. The exercise begins with the movement of the body forward with the help of the right leg, while the calf muscles of the left leg are significantly stretched. Exercise should be done slowly, trying to feel the muscles on the left leg. Having rested the torso against the wall, and having stretched the muscles of the leg to the limit, after 4-5 seconds it is necessary to return to the starting position. After 10 repetitions, the legs need to be swapped and 10 more stretches should be done, but already for the right leg.
• Squatting on one leg. The starting position is as follows; legs wider than shoulders, back straight, arms extended in front of you. Performing the exercise, you must slowly sit down on your right leg, leaving the left straight. After the body has lowered as much as possible, you need to tilt it to the left leg and try to reach your toes with your hands. Then take the starting position and start the exercise with a squat on the left leg. Such squats should be done 10 times on each leg. It perfectly stretches the lower thigh muscles, and the long muscles of the back.
• To stretch the quadriceps muscle of the leg, you will need handholds, such as a chair or wall bars. Starting position facing the stop at a distance of 1-1.5 meters. The back is straight, the arms are lowered. Performing the exercise, you need to take a long step forward and transfer the weight of the torso to the front standing leg. Grasping the stop with one hand, with the other, you need to take the back leg by the ankle and pull it towards the buttocks. At the same time, it is necessary to stand on the knee of a bent leg. After that, you should take the starting position and continue the exercise with the other leg.
• To stretch the gluteal muscles, you need to do deep squats, spreading your legs slightly wider than your shoulders. Stretch your arms in front of you, and you need to squat slowly lowering to the lowest point. This process should take 5 to 10 seconds. You can get up with a jerk. Such squats should be done 10-15 at a time. Approaches for 1 workout should be at least 3.

Doing such gymnastics every day, you can not only increase the tone of the muscles of the legs, but also improve the blood circulation of the internal organs of the small pelvis, which has a positive effect on the whole body.

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