Leg Cramps: Symptoms, Causes, And Treatment

Whether you’re an athlete or more of a homebody, chances are you’ve experienced a leg cramp. You’ll be going about your day, either walking or sitting around, and all of a sudden your leg will spasm with sudden intensity. The cramp will come with sharp pain as if someone was digging a knuckle into your leg muscle.

But just as quickly as the charley horse comes, it goes away, leaving you with more questions than answers. Further complicating matters is the lack of clear triggers for leg cramps, although some folks certainly seem more prone to them than others. For instance, athletes or people who hit the gym regularly and do intense leg exercises tend to get more leg cramps than people who don't.

So, what’s the answer? Are leg cramps random or do they have actual causes? The truth is that it’s a bit of both. Either way, there are effective treatments to help you handle pesky leg cramps without having to swallow a ton of pain medication or totally alter your diet.

Still have questions? This detailed guide can answer everything you need to know about leg cramps, including what causes them, how you can identify what type of leg cramp you’re experiencing, and the best ways to treat muscle spasms in general. Let’s get started.

What Are Leg Cramps, Anyway?

A leg cramp is just a type of muscle cramp, albeit one of the most common ones. Most of us get a leg cramp at one point or another, characterized by sudden pain and intense muscle spasms in the leg area. But because your legs are pretty complex limbs in and of themselves, with dozens of different muscles and some of the longest nerves in your body, leg cramps can be caused by a variety of different things and take on several different forms.

If you’re one of the lucky ones and haven’t experienced a leg cramp yourself yet, here are some of the most common symptoms:

• Severe discomfort in the leg area
• Leg swelling, especially redness or changes in the skin
• Sudden muscle weakness – those suffering from muscle cramps may have difficulty standing on the affected leg(s) or moving them around
• Hard or tense muscle beneath the skin – you can usually feel when your muscles have cramped by pressing your fingers to the affected area and feeling how your muscles don’t give as much as they usually do

All in all, it’s pretty easy to tell if you or your child experiences a leg cramp. Although they are overall harmless, leg cramps can feel really bad and can debilitate you for a short period of time. Even after the leg cramp fully subsides, it’s not uncommon to feel a little tenderness or pain in your leg for a few hours afterward.

For a variety of reasons, the majority (about 75%) of leg cramps occur at night as you sleep rather than from physical activity.

But why exactly do leg cramps hurt? On a technical level, a leg cramp causes muscle contractions in your leg muscles, so they become much shorter and tighter. If this occurs quickly, and if your muscles compress improperly, they might trigger sensitive nerves that cause pain. Doctors call these involuntary contractions “spasms” because you can’t control the affected muscle.

Fortunately, leg cramps don't usually last for too long. The majority of leg cramps only last for a few seconds, although they may recur in smaller spasms as well, gradually lowering in intensity and pain over time. Rare leg cramps may last for up to 10 minutes. Until a leg cramp subsides, you will not be able to control any affected muscles.

What Causes Leg Cramps?

In truth, there’s no single cause of leg cramps in either kids or adults. In fact, the exact cause of your leg cramps might be related to its type (more on those below).

Lots of people get idiopathic or apparently random leg cramps for no discernible reason. Unfortunately, there’s no way to predict or prevent idiopathic leg cramps since medical science isn’t fully sure why they occur.

But the two most common causes of leg cramps are dehydration and low mineral levels throughout your body.

Dehydration is pretty easy to understand. When your body is dehydrated, it can’t circulate proper minerals or electrolytes to your nerves and muscles. This can lead to problems with nerve signaling, which may accidentally cause leg muscles to contract for no reason. This is especially common in dry climates or in the warmer months of the year, such as June through August, or if you're taking diuretics for high blood pressure.

Fortunately, if dehydration is the root cause of your leg cramps, treating the leg cramps is as simple as drinking plenty of water throughout the day.

Another major cause, low mineral levels, directly contribute to leg cramps on a cellular level. Specifically, your body needs a handful of electrolytes like calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium in order to function properly. Electrolytes help your nervous system to work correctly, such as by allowing nerves to send messages between one another at the right time.

If your body doesn’t have enough electrolytes, nerves could signal incorrectly and lead to muscle spasms. You might not have enough electrolytes in your body for all kinds of reasons, including an imbalanced diet, that lead to depletion or sweating intensely without replenishing the electrolytes in your body.

When you sweat after physical activity, your body loses a lot of electrolytes. Drinking a sports drink like Gatorade, which is full of electrolytes, might be a great idea if you suffer from muscle spasms and leg cramps frequently after working out or playing a sports game.

Other causes of leg cramps include:

• Pregnancy. As your body adjusts to being pregnant, a number of hormonal and chemical alterations occur throughout your body. This can change mineral requirements or lead to occasional leg cramps. Additionally, being pregnant adds a little extra weight, so your legs might be unused to walking around with that new weight
• Exercise. It’s not uncommon for people who exercise, either through working out at a gym or playing a sport, to get leg cramps. In fact, the prevalence of leg cramps in athletes is a big reason why it’s important to stretch and prepare before intense physical activity. You can avoid these leg cramps by performing exercises properly (i.e. maintaining adequate form and not lifting too much weight at once) and by stretching before a sports game
• Medication. For example, statins, which help to lower your body’s cholesterol levels, are often associated with muscle cramps although the cause of this side effect is not fully understood
• Liver disease or thyroid disease. These conditions may contribute to leg cramps
• Spinal nerve compression (stenosis). When your spinal nerves are compressed, muscle cramps can arise in your legs when you walk or stand due to gravity and your own bodyweight acting upon your leg nerves
• Alcoholism. This can lead to issues with nerve transmission and weakened muscle fibers over time

As you can see, there are tons of different reasons why you or your child might regularly suffer from leg cramps. But the good news is that there are ways to treat leg cramps as well as prevent leg cramps from flaring up as often as they might otherwise.

When is a Leg Cramp an Emergency?

As mentioned earlier, leg cramps are not usually a cause for concern. Leg cramps are typically mild issues that should dissipate by themselves within a few minutes.

However, there are some occasions when it is wise to visit a doctor about your child’s or your own leg cramps.

Contact your doctor right away if:

• Your leg cramps are more uncomfortable than they should be. Typically, if the pain is totally debilitating for the duration of the muscle spasm, you need to see a doctor
• Your leg cramps come with excessive swelling or skin redness
• You aren’t able to stand on your legs after a cramp
• The leg cramps happen with alarming frequency, such as every time you run or at the same time every day
• The leg cramps do not improve with some of the self-care or lifestyle treatment options mentioned below
• The leg cramps do not have a discernible cause

Even if your doctor is unable to narrow down the cause of your repeated leg cramps, they may be able to recommend treatment or clean medicine options to help you alleviate the symptoms.

Are There Different Types of Leg Cramps?

Yes. In fact, the fact that there are so many types of leg cramps that it’s a little difficult to know which you might be experiencing at first. However, understanding what type of leg cramps you or your child might be experiencing is the first step to fixing the issue and alleviating the symptoms.

Muscle Cramps

Your leg cramps might merely be "regular" muscle cramps. Regular muscle cramps are those that you get for typical reasons, such as exercising a little too hard, being dehydrated, or not having enough electrolytes in your everyday diet.

The good news is that regular muscle cramps happen to almost everyone from time to time. They are pretty easy to treat and should go away by themselves within a couple of minutes, if not even faster.

The other good news is that regular muscle cramps can be treated by adjusting your lifestyle or taking steps to avoid triggering a muscle cramp with your physical activity.

Nocturnal Cramps

However, we also mentioned that a majority or three out of four leg cramps occur at night. There’s no need to worry, though. Even though night cramps can be startling and might awaken you from a deep and peaceful sleep, the presence of nocturnal leg cramps is not necessarily a sign of some deeper, underlying condition like restless legs.

In fact, most nocturnal cramps occur for these typically harmless reasons:

• Many of us sleep in cramped positions due to habit. When we do this, we contract our calf and other leg muscles, which makes them a little easier to inflame or irritate. On the other hand, others might sleep with their foot stretched out, which can shorten their calf muscles and make them a little more vulnerable to spasming
• Lots of us become mildly dehydrated when we sleep. Some of us don't drink enough water before we go to sleep, then spend a 7 to 8-hour time frame unconscious without taking a drink. A dehydrated body is more vulnerable to muscle cramps overall, not just leg cramps

Data indicates that about 33% of older people (people over the age of 60) experience leg cramps in the night about once every two months. Furthermore, almost every older adult (adults aged 50 or over) has at least one leg cramp over their lifetimes.

However, it’s important to note that only 7% of children experience nighttime leg cramps. If your child experiences repeated leg cramps at night, it may be a sign that there is something a little more serious at play and you should contact your doctor.

Calf Cramps

For most folks, a calf muscle cramp is the same thing as a regular muscle cramp. The vast majority of leg muscle cramps occur in the calf muscles as opposed to the thigh muscles or the feet.

This is mostly because the calf muscle is one of the most vulnerable to becoming twisted or knotted as it stretches and contracts. Plus, many athletes or fitness enthusiasts strain their calf muscles as they work out or perform athletic feats.

Calf muscle cramps are often called “charley horses.”

True Cramps

So-called "true" muscle cramps are any leg cramps that involve either part or all of a single muscle or muscle group that acts in conjunction with other muscles. For instance, the muscles that flex multiple adjacent fingers count as a single muscle group.

All of your leg muscles count as a muscle group as well since it’s very difficult or impossible to move one part of your leg muscles independently from the others. True leg cramps are thought to be caused by hyperexcitability of nerves that stimulate your leg muscles.

What does this mean for you? Not much. But your doctor may refer to your leg cramp as a true cramp if it affects your entire leg (for example, you feel a little tingling in your thigh even though most of the pain is centered in your calf, or if you have difficulty standing when using all your leg muscles after the initial spasm subsides).

Most true leg cramps are caused by the exact same reasons described above, namely dehydration, overexertion, or a poor diet that leads to an electrolyte deficiency.

Tetany Cramps

Tetany muscle cramps are a little more specific.

Tetany itself is a type of disorder characterized by higher than average neuronal excitability. In simpler terms, it means that patients with tetany have nerves that fire more often and for apparently random reasons.

Tetany muscle cramps are those caused by the overall tetany condition, which is usually caused by a deficiency in calcium. If you or your child has tetany, you or they may experience more common leg cramps due to nerves firing in the calf or thigh.

The best way to treat tetany leg cramps is to treat your tetany. However, it’s also important to note that tetanic cramps will likely be indistinguishable from true or other cramps in terms of their symptoms or overall feel.

Contracture Cramps

Technically, contracture muscle cramps are not muscle cramps at all. Contracture mimics muscle cramps in both feel and symptoms. In a nutshell, a contracture often occurs alongside the scarring of a large area of skin, which can pull the skin tight and affect the muscles.

However, it can also be caused by inactivity or other conditions, which causes the shortening of the muscle or tendon tissue and a resulting deformity.

If your leg muscles have one or more contractures present, it means they are not able to move or flex as completely or thoroughly as they were able to before. Think of it as permanent scarring on the muscle tissue that limits its range of motion.

Most people who have contractures have them in the palms of their hands, and they primarily affect tendons. But contractures can also affect the legs, particularly the calves and the feet if you have experienced an injury in those areas before.

Speak to your doctor if you believe that you are experiencing regular contracture cramps. Contracture cramps will feel a little different from regular muscle cramps in that they may be associated with less pain since your leg nerves may not be firing as wildly as they would with other types of cramps. But contracture cramps might also feel a little more limiting and be more difficult to get rid of.

Dystonic Cramps

Lastly, you or your child might experience dystonic cramps. Dystonic cramps occur when muscles that aren’t needed for a particular motion, like taking a step or pulling your leg back, are stimulated and contract. In other words, dystonic cramps occur when the incorrect muscles are triggered by your nervous system.

In most cases, muscles affected by dystonic cramps are those that would typically work in the opposite direction that you’re attempting to induce. For example, you might experience a dystonic cramp when you try to move your calf forward and the foot or thigh goes backward.

These cramps, while inconvenient, are not always as immediately painful as regular cramps and are not nearly as common. They usually require some underlying condition or nerve damage in order to occur. If you or your child experiences these cramps, you should speak to your doctor as soon as possible.

Can Your Child Get Leg Cramps?

Yes, and children may get leg cramps a little more frequently than adults as they enter their teenage years and become more active in sports and athletics. Remember, leg cramps are primarily caused because of dehydration, electrolyte imbalances, or intense physical exertion. Kids are vulnerable to all three.

For example, kids aren’t always the best about maintaining an adequate level of hydration throughout the day, especially if they would rather be playing or doing other activities. Make sure that your child drinks regularly, especially if they like to play outside in the summer heat or if they participate in sports.

Furthermore, try to make sure that your child eats a well-balanced diet every day. This is the best way to make sure that they get all the electrolytes they need, including calcium, potassium, sodium, and magnesium. This way, they’ll be less likely to suffer from leg cramps because of a deficiency.

Is your kid a picky eater? If that’s the case, consider giving them a child’s multivitamin, which may include all of the electrolytes they need. You can also kill two birds with one stone and give them sports energy drinks after playing a sports game or spending a lot of time outside. These drinks can both hydrate and replenish electrolytes quickly. Just be sure not to give them too many energy drinks as they tend to be quite sugary as well.

Lastly, teach your child how to stretch and prepare for athletics or exercise properly before they get into the habit more intensely. Good exercise habits will follow them into adulthood and protect them from injuring themselves, plus help them avoid regular leg cramps every time they hit the gym.

What Is The Best Way To Deal With Leg Cramps?

Still, even those who follow all the right precautions and do what they can to avoid leg cramps still get them from time to time. So how can you deal with leg cramps, especially if you or your child get them regularly?

Stretching and Massages

If you or your child is in the throes of a leg cramp, the best immediate fix is to quickly do a stretch or massage the affected leg muscles. It might be uncomfortable or difficult, but stretching and massaging a cramping muscle can do wonders to work through the spasm session and even help it stop a little faster than it would otherwise.

To properly massage a spasming or cramping leg muscle:

• Take two or three fingers and rub them in gentle but firm concentric circles over the cramped muscle. You should be able to feel which muscle is being affected as it will be noticeably tense or tight compared to surrounding muscle tissue
• Do that for a few seconds to a few minutes until the most severe tension subsides
• Next, extend your leg back and forth to stretch the muscles and iron out any tissue kinks that may be remaining
• Naturally, don’t continue rubbing or stretching if you feel intense pain. Listen to your body and allow it to recover at its own pace. Some muscle cramps are more severe than others

This goes double when treating your child’s muscle cramps. Listen to what they say and don’t push them into more stretches or massages if it seems like it’ll be too uncomfortable for them.

After stretching and massaging as well as you can, lay down on the floor or a couch and allow your leg to recuperate for a few minutes before trying to walk on it again. If you try to walk too quickly after a leg cramp, you may cause it to cramp up again by triggering the nerves.

Hot/Cold Therapy

Many athletes are big proponents of hot and cold therapy, and for good reason. Applying intense heat or cold to tense or sore muscles has proven medical benefits, although for different reasons.

Cold therapy, such as applying a homemade ice pack or an over-the-counter ice pack, is excellent for treating muscle spasms because it dulls the nerves and alleviates intense pain. This makes cold therapy a particularly good choice if you have suffered from a really intense muscle spasm and want your leg to feel a little better so you can get some rest.

Furthermore, cold therapy can reduce swelling, potentially lowering the likelihood of another leg cramp following soon after an initial spasm.

Hot therapy is also effective. When you apply a heating pad to a tense muscle, blood vessels widen and allow oxygenated blood to flow to any damaged tissues. This also helps your muscles to relax, as it’s common for all of our muscles to loosen up as they get warmer. This directly counteracts the tension and stress of a spasming muscle, so it might directly help alleviate a leg cramp.

Ideally, you’ll want to apply heat before cold to loosen the muscle up and stop the muscle cramp. Applying cold afterward allows you to dull the nerves of the leg and get rid of most of the intense pain while your leg recovers.

Fortunately, this therapy works for both adults and kids. It may be worthwhile to keep an ice pack on hand for any sporting events, plus a warm water bag or similar heating implement. You can also purchase commercial ice and heat packs that can be activated with a minimum of effort.

Rest the Affected Leg

It should almost go without saying that you should allow any leg affected by a cramp to rest for a little while before asking it to do more work. It doesn’t matter if you have to get back on the field to your sports game or if you have errands to run. If you’ve experienced a leg cramp, sit down and give your muscles arrest before trying to walk again.

This is so important because your leg will be a little more sensitive and even a little weaker than you remember for a few minutes up to a few hours after a leg cramp. As an example, you don't want to drive immediately after experiencing a leg cramp in your right leg. Your right leg is used to control the gas pedal and the brake. The last thing you need when behind the wheel is for your driving leg to suddenly spasm because you pushed it too far.

Do yourself a favor and let your leg rest at waist level for at least a half-hour after a leg cramp to be safe.

Leg Cramp Medicine

If the above treatments don’t work, you might look into leg cramp medicine. Rather than popping ibuprofen, you should look into real, targeted leg cramp medicine made with clean ingredients that are organic and non-GMO. It’s the best way to minimize the symptoms of an intense leg cramp without putting unnecessary medicines in your body.

How To Tell If Leg Pain Is Actually A Cramp

While it’s relatively easy to tell whether you have a leg cramp, it’s also true that leg cramps can feel similar to other, potentially dangerous conditions.

For example, a blood clot in your leg will produce pretty similar symptoms to a regular leg cramp. But blood clots can be much more dangerous. The technical term for a blood clot in your leg is deep vein thrombosis or DVT.

DVT symptoms can cause sudden pain and may also make your leg muscles feel tight or difficult to move.

Pay attention to these additional symptoms in either yourself or your child to know whether a potential leg cramp is actually DVT:

• Intense swelling. Blood clots in your leg cause blood to clog in a major blood vessel, which may necessarily cause some blood swelling
• Warmth. If your leg is warm to the touch, this may indicate that blood’s clotting in the area
• Intense redness. If your leg’s skin is reddish or purple, this also may indicate that blood is flooding the area and you should seek medical advice
• Lingering pain or pressure, especially as you walk. If the pain after a supposed leg cramps does not subside, it may be a blood clot instead of a cramp at all

It’s crucial to visit a doctor if you suspect you or your child has a DVT. Only a doctor can fully diagnose this condition and give you medication that can help to resolve the blood blockage ASAP. DVTs are more dangerous since they could cause more blood clots to form, or the blood clot in your leg could travel to your heart.

On the other hand, if your leg pain subsides quickly, only has a little bit of redness or swelling, and only seems to come about because of specific triggers, it’s more than likely a leg cramp instead of a blood clot.

What’s Wrong With Traditional Leg Cramp Medicine?

As mentioned, leg cramp medicine can be a great method of relief if you or your child experiences regular leg cramps or if a particular leg cramp is causing repeated soreness. Many athletes use FDA-approved leg cramp medicine regularly so they can get back on their feet (and their hamstrings!) more quickly and so they can get sleep after an intense workout session or sports game.

However, you shouldn’t use the cheapest leg cramp medicine you can find, and not all leg cramp medicine is going to be right for you. For example, quinine used to be considered a good solution to leg cramps, but it's no longer commonly recommended by healthcare professionals due to life-threatening side effects like thrombocytopenia. There are lots of problems and risk factors associated with traditional leg cramp medicine.

Inactive Ingredients

For starters, common OTC or over-the-counter leg cramp medicine is packed full of unnecessary inactive ingredients. Inactive ingredients aren’t necessarily a bad thing, as they are sometimes necessary to boost digestion or to make a particular medicine easy to swallow.

Even if a medicine brand doesn’t use a lot of synthetic chemicals, they may use ingredients like gluten or peanut oil, both of which are potential allergens for millions of people around the world. Even a small amount of peanut oil, for example, can be potentially deadly when ingested by someone with a peanut allergy.