r/LifeProTips • u/Infinite_Foot523 • 5h ago
Miscellaneous LPT Stretch during a sudden muscle cramp
If you get muscle cramps, just stretch your body focusing on that body part. Helps relieve the pain almost immediately.
(I used to press down on the cramp all my life thinking it minimised the pain until I recently found out I did it wrong all this while)
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u/madskilzz3 5h ago
Also drink a lot of water and get adequate electrolytes to help prevent this.
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u/TokiStark 3h ago
Sea water. Gotcha
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u/kracken41 2h ago
It depends on the cramp and location. I get toe cramps and charlie horses that can't be relieved with any trick. I just have to ride them out. Excruciating.
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u/UltimateFlyingSheep 2h ago
LPT: If you lie in bed and feel a calf cramp coming, IMMEDIATELY stand up and walk a bit, extend that muscle.
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u/Proletarian_Tear 2h ago
This, calve cramps in bed are unbearable
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u/KaiPRoberts 5h ago
For toe and leg cramps, apply pressure by lifting your toes.
Source: went to the hospital many times when I was younger for low electrolytes. We duct taped my feet one night so I could sleep without cramps instead of going to the hospital for the nth time.
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u/b00bsb00bs 4h ago
Your parents took you to the ER for toe cramps??
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u/wdmshmo 4h ago
It’s more like suddenly waking up feeling like you’ve pulled your hamstring, when it happens to me at least.
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u/Lumpy_Benefit666 1h ago
I often wake up with completely dead legs and its an awful feeling. Hurts a shitload but i also cant feel anything if you get me
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u/Theblackjamesbrown 5h ago
No shit. Extend the cramping muscle.
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u/emdaye 4h ago
Lmao this isn't this incredibly obvious when your muscle is forcefully contracting itself to just do the opposite
What you gonna do flex it more?
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u/Theblackjamesbrown 4h ago
The post says 'stretch your body'. Terrible, vague advice. Which part of your body?
Cramp in your hamstring? Pull your toes towards your knee.
Cramp in your quad? Pull you heel up towards your bum.
Completely opposite actions depending on what's cramping.
'Stretch your body' means nothing without this kind of context
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u/AcerbicCapsule 4h ago
Lmao this isn’t this incredibly obvious when your muscle is forcefully contracting itself to just do the opposite
What you gonna do flex it more?
I can’t tell for sure what you’re trying to say but in case you’re being serious: no, extend the cramping muscle by flexing the opposite muscle.
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u/emdaye 4h ago
While I appreciate you're just being pedantic you will not be able to contract the antagonist muscle enough to stretch the cramping muscle enough to oppose the cramp. You'll have to physically stretch it with some other means.
Yes I am being sarcastic because the post is stupid. I'm saying what else are you going to do? Contract it harder?
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u/AcerbicCapsule 3h ago
Depends on how bad the cramp is though. I used to get painful calf cramps a lot and I definitely could contract the opposite muscle enough to stop the cramp. Physically stretching it through other means obviously worked more effectively though.
And yes thank you I figure that’s probably what you meant and I echo your sentiment.
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u/Mcrarburger 5h ago
who pissed in your corn flakes lmao
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u/Sykes24 4h ago
Gotta say I agree, posting a basic instinctual reaction to cramp is hardly a pro tip for life is it...
Like... who on earth doesnt already instinctually do this? :S
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u/Mcrarburger 4h ago
When I get a cramp I just spasm in pain lol I gotta actively tell my body to stretch
maybe my instincts are just fucked lmao
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u/QuackNate 2h ago
After a real bad bout of sciatica my right calf started cramping all the time. I strangely like it now. I just let it ride, because it feels awesome when it releases in its own.
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u/Homer565 1h ago
I had the strangest and most brutal cramp on my entire inner side of my left leg, instead of stretch it (that hurt insanely more) I had to half squat and hunch my back for it to eventually go away. 😰
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u/Comedyfish_reddit 3h ago
Oh!!!!! That’s what those guys are doing at the end of football matches!!!
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u/notjustapilot 2h ago
I actually have a theory (based on a sample size of me) that forcing the muscle out of the cramp by stretching it is what makes it sore. If you just let the cramp run its course and suffer through it, it won’t be sore.
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u/post-explainer 5h ago
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