Medical Questions » Legs Questions » Question No. 559
| Question: | Every night, I am woken between midnight and 2 am with agonising pain in my left leg. I can' t cope with this any more, and nothing seems to help. What can cause my leg muscles to go into spasm? |
| Answer: | Night time leg cramps are a very common problem. It worsens with age and pregnancy, and most commonly they occur after heavy exercise during the day.
Some hours after ceasing the exercise, the muscles in the leg go into painful spasm, causing you to leap from your chair or bed. Stretching the affected muscles by standing on tip toe or pushing against an immovable object often eases the pain.
The spasms are caused by a combination of minor muscle injury, a build up of waste products in the muscle and dehydration—all of these problems being caused by the exercise.
Prevention is better than cure, and taking adequate amounts of fluid during and after the activity may wash away excess waste products and prevent dehydration.
If this simple measure is insufficient, medications can be prescribed to be taken after sport to prevent the cramps. Quinine and Akineton are the drugs most commonly used. The two methods of prevention can be simply prescribed if tonic water or bitter lemon is drunk after exercise. These drinks contain quinine to give them the bitter taste, and so acts to prevent dehydration and muscle spasms.
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