Massive Foot Cramps - What Are The Causes and How to Deal With Them?

[amazonmoh]

Hi everyone,

Have you had any serious foot cramps before? The kind that feels like your feet are getting all crunched up and you try to move the muscles in your feet but that only makes the pain worse and actually nothing moves on your feet anyway. It's debilitating although temporary. The annoying part is that it comes and goes consistently at random times. Massaging with rubber balls seems to help, but only temporarily.

I've been give the advice that it's due to excessive sweating during training and thus depletion of essential minerals, and was encouraged to take some magnesium and vitamin B12? Someone also recommended to eat shit loads of bananas, which I did but that doesn't help either.

Would love any constructive feedback!

Thanks guys

[NewThai]

I love hot soaks/compresses and epsom salt for most aches. Perhaps some ankle supports might help during trajning as well?

[Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu]

Hi everyone,

Have you had any serious foot cramps before? The kind that feels like your feet are getting all crunched up and you try to move the muscles in your feet but that only makes the pain worse and actually nothing moves on your feet anyway. It's debilitating although temporary. The annoying part is that it comes and goes consistently at random times. Massaging with rubber balls seems to help, but only temporarily.

I've been give the advice that it's due to excessive sweating during training and thus depletion of essential minerals, and was encouraged to take some magnesium and vitamin B12? Someone also recommended to eat shit loads of bananas, which I did but that doesn't help either.

Would love any constructive feedback!

Thanks guys

I used to get very bad cramps in my arches and I remember it being called "swimmer's foot." I can't find that when I google it though, so maybe whoever told me just made it up. The rubber ball on the foot should probably become something you do even when you don't have the cramps, as a preventive exercise. I'd also suggest stretching the ankles and calves, achilles tendons, in order to keep them all supple and help prevent the cramps.

I notice that my arches, heels and Achilles will be very painful sometimes when I come out of the ring, especially when my mileage in running is high and I'm on my toes all the time for padwork. Getting out of the ring and walking flat is a transition that causes pain in my feet. So I make sure to stretch (I use a roller) my Achilles and calves and usually the pain in my feet stops happening.

Obviously my thousands-of-miles-away diagnosis is only worth the suggestions, but I hope they help. Foot crams are SO painful.

[515]

Cramps can have various causes, such as heavy load on the muscles during exercise, incorrect posture, lack of salt or glucose, dehydration, excessive cooling of the muscles (eg swimmers), illness or poisoning. This cramping is caused by a shortage of potassium, calcium or magnesium is also a theory.

So having some extra magnesium and calcium, drink some more water and eat a banana so now and than (potassium, calcium, phosphorus) wouldn't do anything bad.

[Tyler Byers]

I have gone through this before, and am going through it again (cramps everywhere after training). I think I am going to try the magnesium and banana route and see what happens, but I would also highly recommend foot massage. I tend to find that my calves get incredibly tight throughout the week, and I think this is what leads to many foot cramp issues. There is a whole street with massage places in On Nut that do massage for 150 baht an hour. I think it is Sukhumvit Soi 71/1.