Why do my legs suddenly hurt?

Leg pain is a common phenomenon in life. Most people have experienced leg pain. When it hurts, you can't even walk. There are many reasons for leg pain, such as excessive fatigue, cold constitution, emotional instability, and calcium deficiency. In addition to these factors, there are also some pathological factors, such as rheumatism, lumbar disc herniation, etc., so you should pay attention to protecting your body in daily life.

Causes of calf muscle cramps include:

1. Cold: When the external environment is cold and humid, if you do not warm up sufficiently and suddenly participate in strenuous physical activities, gastrocnemius spasms are likely to occur. Gastrocnemius spasms may also occur when swimming in low water temperatures. This situation is very dangerous and can easily lead to drowning. You should leave the water and go ashore immediately. Calf cramps are more common after falling asleep at night in winter.

2. Excessive fatigue: During overweight exercise, the muscles will be over-fatigued. If you suddenly exert force on your calves at this time, it may cause gastrocnemius spasm. During the second half of a football match, you will often see some athletes fall to the ground and pull their calves, which is a calf muscle spasm.

3. Whole body dehydration and salt loss: Excessive sweating or urination will reduce the salt concentration in the blood, causing electrolyte imbalance in the blood and causing calf muscle cramps. In order to reduce weight, weightlifters take sauna baths, which causes a large amount of water and salt loss in the body. When they suddenly exert force during competition, muscle cramps will occur. Marathon runners train or compete in high temperatures and sweat profusely all over their bodies. If they fail to replenish their salty drinks in time, calf muscle cramps may occur.

4. Mental stress: Athletes are overly nervous before a game and do not warm up sufficiently before the game. Calf muscle cramps may occur during intense competitions, which is more common among new athletes who lack competition experience.

5. Calcium deficiency: The elderly suffer from osteoporosis and young children suffer from rickets. The calcium content in their blood is lower than normal, which increases muscle irritability. The elderly are prone to calf muscle cramps at night in winter.

Symptoms of calf muscle cramps: sudden and severe cramping in the muscles on the back of the calf, inability to stand, muscle cramps at night that wake you up immediately, the calf muscles are tense and become hard lumps with tenderness when touched, there may also be spasms in the plantar muscles, the calf is motionless, and the pain will resolve on its own after a few minutes without any treatment, and the muscles will soften. After the strong muscle spasms subside, the calf muscle pain will remain for one or two days.

Treatment: Because the disease is rapid and the symptoms are obvious, treatment should be given immediately.

1. Press Weizhong and Chengshan points

2. Rub your palms at a faster frequency to warm up your calf muscles.

3. The operator uses grasping or kneading method from proximal to distal on the posterior side of the calf to relax the spasmodic muscles. Avoid using force on stiff muscles to avoid muscle damage.

4. Stretching method: The patient extends his knee, and the surgeon dorsiflexes the ankle with force, stretching the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles to stretch the contracted muscles. During football games, athletes often use this method to eliminate calf muscle cramps.

5. Tap method: After the muscle spasm is relieved, tap the back of the calf slowly with your palm or empty fist. This can eliminate muscle fatigue and relieve remaining muscle soreness.

prevention:

1. Do adequate warm-up before exercise. When the weather is hot and the amount of exercise is high, you should drink alkaline drinks containing salt before or during exercise. 2. Before swimming in low-temperature water, do warm-up exercises, especially stretching exercises for the lower limb muscles. If you experience calf muscle cramps in the water, stop exercising immediately.

3. For those who suffer from recurrent calf muscle cramps, the cause should be identified and the causative factors eliminated. If the elderly suffer from osteoporosis, they should supplement calcium or use hormone therapy. People who are overly tired should rest properly and reduce the amount of exercise. In cold weather, keep your lower limbs warm.