When you get old, your body's immunity decreases, and all kinds of diseases follow.
"Back pain, leg cramps, you have to supplement calcium!" It's just a sentence that we often hear in daily life, so many middle-aged and elderly people have leg cramps, so they blindly eat calcium tablets and drink bone broth, but it has no effect.
It's not surprising that people associate cramps with calcium deficiency, because calcium plays an important role in muscle contraction, and calcium deficiency does cause cramps.
However, not all cramps are due to calcium deficiency! For middle-aged and elderly people, calcium deficiency is only one of the causes of leg cramps.
1. Under what circumstances will cramps
is consistent with most people's cognition, and calcium deficiency is one of the causes of cramps. When the concentration of calcium ions in the blood is too low, the muscles are prone to excitation and spasm.
The elderly have weakened calcium absorption capacity and obvious calcium loss, so they are often plagued by cramps. Calcium deficiency is also common in pregnant and lactating women.
is a common cause of cramps, which can directly cause strong contraction of leg muscles and sudden spasm of blood vessels.
For example, sleeping at night without a quilt, kicking the quilt off, and suddenly going down into the icy water to swim may cause leg cramps. Also, this cramp can sometimes last longer.
and excessive exercise, especially anaerobic exercise, will cause muscles to contract continuously in a short period of time and produce metabolic waste. If you don't stretch and relax your muscles in time, too much acidic metabolites will accumulate, which can easily stimulate your calves and cause calf cramps.
Older people are weak, have poor muscle strength, and have reduced metabolic function, and are more likely to cramp than younger people.
for
a long time to lie on the back, let the quilt press on the surface of the foot, or lie prone for a long time, so that the surface of the foot against the bed will force some muscles of the calf to be in a state of compression for a long time, causing passive contracture of the muscles and insufficient blood supply.
It can be seen that calcium deficiency is only one of the reasons. When cramps are repeated, then beware! Maybe it's your body sending you a signal for help!
2. Frequent cramps are a sign of disease
1. Lumbar intervertebral disc herniation
If the elderly always have calf cramps, you should pay attention! Don't think of this cramp anymore as an ordinary cramp, this phenomenon can be the cause of a herniated disc in the lumbar spine. Because after the deformation of the spine, it compresses the nerves for a long time, which will lead to leg numbness and leg cramps.
According to clinical research, the incidence of leg cramps can be as high as 70% in patients diagnosed with lumbar disc herniation.
2. Arteriosclerosis occlusion of lower limbs
Studies have shown that those middle-aged and elderly people who have frequent leg cramps, especially at night, are not due to calcium deficiency, but because of arteriosclerosis and occlusion of the lower limbs.
It is important to know that arteriosclerosis in the elderly narrows the lumen of blood vessels, so insufficient blood supply is more common. When a person is active, the contraction and relaxation of the leg muscles will squeeze the blood vessels, speed up the blood flow, and maintain normal blood circulation in the legs.
However, when a person is sleeping, the blood flow in the legs slows down, and the metabolites cannot be taken away by the blood in time, and these metabolites accumulate in the muscles, and when they reach a certain concentration, they will stimulate the muscles to contract, and the phenomenon of leg cramps occurs.
Diabetic patients are more likely to harden the arteries, and after hardening, the blood vessels are occluded, and the blood supply cannot be increased, which may lead to gangrene and eventually amputation. Therefore, when cramps recur, it is necessary to go to the hospital in time to identify and rule out organic lesions of blood vessels and nerves, so as not to delay treatment.
Recipe: Peony licorice soup
【Composition】12 grams of peony and 12 grams of licorice.
【Usage】On the second flavor, 600 ml of water, boil 300 ml, remove the trickle, divide the temperature and then serve.
【Function】Reconcile the liver and spleen, relieve pain and emergency.
【Indications】Typhoid fever and yin, loss of muscles and veins, leg and foot cramps, upset, slight chills, liver and spleen disharmony, abdominal pain.
【Experimental Studies】
Antispasmodic, analgesic, anti-inflammatory effects Anhui Medical College, Acute Abdomen Data, 1977:74. This formula has a strong inhibitory and sedative effect on the abnormal excitability of the lesion. Among them, peony has a sedative effect on the excitation of the pain center and spinal reflex arch, so it can treat central or peripheral tendon spasm, as well as pain caused by contracture. The ingredients in peony and licorice have the effects of sedation, analgesia, antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, and relaxation of smooth muscles.
3. 1 small action to relieve sudden cramps
Not only are cramps painful, but they can also cause further damage to the muscles if action is not taken soon.
In fact, relieving cramps is not a difficult task, as long as you remember the rule of "do the opposite", you can easily deal with it.
It is necessary to "do the opposite", that is, wrench the toes in the opposite direction of the cramp, the foot board, and insist on it for more than 1~2 minutes, and the effect can be seen.
2. Calf muscle crampsCalf
cramps, you can grab the toes with your hands and pull them back, stretch the muscles behind the calf, and pull them a few times; Then, hold the calf muscles with your hands and slowly knead them, slowly allowing the muscles to relax.
first take a deep breath and hold it, float on your back, grab your toes with your hand and pull them in the direction of your body, and press down on your knees with your other hand to stretch the back of your legs. Immediately after the remission, go ashore and continue to massage and rest.
Fourth, prescribe the right medicine to prevent cramps
1. Proper nutrition supplementation
Leg cramps caused by low blood calcium, calcium supplementation alone cannot promote calcium absorption, and vitamin E, vitamin D and other nutrients need to be appropriately supplemented at the same time.
Eating more dairy products, lean meat and other foods with lactic acid and amino acids can promote the dissolution of calcium salts and help absorption. Common foods high in calcium include milk, shrimp skin, kelp, and tofu.
Keep warm and avoid cold in your muscles. Before going to bed, the calf muscles can be massaged to promote local blood circulation.
When the feet are cold in arteriosclerosis obliterans of the lower limbs, it is necessary to pay attention to the warmth of the feet, and the elderly should wear breathable, soft and loose cotton socks.
Do warm-up work and stretching before exercising, and strengthen physical exercise at ordinary times. Enhancing lower limb movement can improve collateral circulation of blood vessels and compensate for ischemia caused by narrowing or occlusion of main blood vessels.
If you are older, have limited mobility, and are unable to do high-intensity physical movements, you can do a set of simple exercises:
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Step in place, a group of 50 times, 3~5 groups are appropriate.
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When you are usually sitting, you can do the action of stepping on the legs, similar to the action of stepping on the brakes, a group of 50 times, 3~5 groups are appropriate.
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Lie down and do the instep hook motion, at least 30 times.
Improves atherosclerosis, eliminates factors that cause the diameter of the lumen of blood vessels to become smaller, and reduces body weight.
If necessary, drugs such as antiplatelet aggregation and lipid metabolism can be taken under the guidance of a doctor, and risk factors that may aggravate atherosclerosis of the legs, such as hypertension and diabetes, need to be prevented.
After reading these, I'm no longer afraid of leg cramps!
