How to relieve abdominal cramps Causes of abdominal muscle cramps

After abdominal training, abdominal cramps are a common occurrence, so what do we need to do about it? How to prevent the occurrence of cramps?

How to relieve abdominal cramps

You can lie down to pad the waist and straighten the abdominal muscles. For example, the upper dog pose. Step 1: In a prone position, brace your hands on the floor and straighten your feet. Step 2: Inhale and hold your hands up, palms close to the ground, while lifting your back up one section at a time. Step 3: With your eyes and head facing upward, maintain 3-5 breaths and then rest.

Causes of cramps

The true mechanism of cramps is not yet known, but most research findings suggest that muscle cramps are caused by a sudden increase in the frequency of nerve action in the muscle due to a decrease in the nerve or neuromuscular stress threshold, resulting in tonic muscle contraction. There are several conditions that are more likely to cause the occurrence of cramps.

1. fatigue.

When the body is fatigued, the normal physiological function of the muscles will change, when the muscles will have a large amount of lactic acid accumulation, and lactic acid will constantly stimulate muscle cramps.

2. Electrolyte imbalance.

A lot of sweating during exercise, especially in hot climates, will result in a large loss of electrolytes. The main components of sweat are water and salt, and salt is related to muscle contraction, so losing too much salt can cause muscle excitement and cramps.

3. Cold stimulation.

In cold climates, such as swimming stimulated by cold water, especially warm-up exercises are not adequately prepared, it is easy to cause muscle cramps, mainly due to the increased excitability of the muscles due to the cold.

How to deal with cramps

When muscle cramps occur, the muscles are hard and painful, and it is not easy to relieve them for a while, and even the movement of the adjacent joints is restricted.

Stop the activity immediately

Slowly and continuously stretch and elongate the cramped muscle in the opposite direction of the muscle contraction. When the quadriceps muscle on the front side of the thigh is cramping, bend the knee and grasp the back of the foot and lean the heel as far as possible toward the buttocks to straighten the muscles on the front side of the thigh. In case of cramps in the posterior calf muscles, straighten the knee joint, hook the toes, hold the sole of the foot with both hands and stretch upward

It can be combined with local massage

Pay attention to warmth when handling, and stretch evenly and slowly to avoid muscle strain.

Prevention of cramps

First of all, we should strengthen the physical fitness and improve the level of physical fitness, especially to improve the ability of muscle adaptation to temperature and muscle endurance. Before exercising, you must do the preparatory activities and stretch the active muscles, especially the muscles that are prone to cramps can be properly massaged beforehand. Winter sports activities should pay attention to keep warm. Summer sports, especially for strenuous sports or long time sports, need to pay attention to the hydration, and can be appropriate to drink light salt water or sports drinks.