I was intrigued when I heard the report on BBC Breakfast News this morning.
The report was stimulated by Rafael Nadal’s attack of cramp after playing in the US Open.
The Physiotherapist interviewed by BBC Breakfast News and the resident GP, Dr Rosemary Leonard never mentioned that a lack of calcium and magnesium may be the cause.
They spoke of a possible lack of salts due to sweating, being the main cause.
They suggested that a banana may help, as bananas contain potassium, one chemical found in the electrolytes which are the ‘salts’ they speak of.
Quinine, now found in small amounts in tonic water, was historically thought to be helpful for cramps but this is a drug and was used to keep malaria at bay in the colonies, taken with gin to make the medicine go down, hence the drink gin and tonic. But medline plus warns that quinine should not be used for night time cramps as quinine has not be shown to be effective for this purpose and has dangerous side-effects.
Muscles are moved by nerve impulses and these are helped by calcium and magnesium.
I solved my agonising cramp attacks by taking a calcium and magnesium supplement and drinking a good quality mineral water.
The calcium and magnesium as well as the other electrolytes that are so essential for the body are found in fresh vegetables and fresh fruit and fresh mineral water.
It could be argued that not consuming at least 5 a day of these precious food sources may be the cause of cramp.
Drinking too much water or fluids, may reduce the electrolyte balance in the body so one should be careful about this.
There can be other underlying reasons for cramp and one should always consult one’s GP.
Fizzy drinks, including tonic water depletes the body of calcium and magnesium so these drinks should be banned, as they are considered poisonous by some nutritionists. There are no nutritional values in fizzy drinks so what is the point of drinking them? Maybe Nadal was consuming too many energy (fizzy) drinks.
If you need the boost of sugar that one generally drinks a fizzy drink for, you would be better off eating a tea-spoonful of unrefined sugar and some good quality mineral water.
Protein in meat, fish, pulses and milk products needs calcium for digestion so eating too much protein may affect the calcium balance in the body.
Calcium should always be taken with magnesium.
However the advice on what to do when cramp attacks was good.
Get up, and force the limb to a careful gentle stretch and then rub the muscle gently.
Interesting – Massage and stretches – this is what I do in Remedial Massage treatments.