Cramps/fidgety legs at night

disorganisedmum
disorganisedmum Posts: 46
edited August 2012 in Training, fitness and health
Hi.I'm quite new to cycling and am building up my base fitness.I do find that at night I get terrible fidgety legs and a cramping like sensation in my calves.It's hard to describe but I literally can't keep them still.I do alot of stretching after cycling and before I go to bed with some work on a foam roller.I have also heard that eating bananas are good cos of the pottasium but It doesn't seem to make any difference.Can anyone help? :?

Comments

  • danlikesbikes
    danlikesbikes Posts: 3,898
    Sounds typical of either not having enough fluid and/or not enough sodium.

    Your right that bananas are pretty good but clearly thats not helping you out.
    Pain hurts much less if its topped off with beating your mates to top of a climb.
  • rhext
    rhext Posts: 1,639
    Restless legs, I get it too. Might try the 'more fluid' thing because it can ruin an evening's telly!
  • trek_dan
    trek_dan Posts: 1,366
    Dehaydration. When I first started cyling properley I used to wake up in the middle of the night with cramp lots, very frustarting.
  • ctc
    ctc Posts: 232
    Google restless legs

    From what I remember one cause was lack of Magnesium
  • disorganisedmum
    disorganisedmum Posts: 46
    Thanks for the replies.Sorry to ask an obvious question but is it simply a question of drinking more water or drinking isotonic drinks or other such things if I may not be getting enough sodium??
  • gin0rm0
    gin0rm0 Posts: 40
    Its most likely dehydration. I get it at night when I've trained or raced hard in the heat. Make sure u rehydrate properly after a hard ride.

    Also, if it gets really bad like mine was then perhaps also try crampex tablets before going to bed.
  • ut_och_cykla
    ut_och_cykla Posts: 1,594
    water might help but if its salts that are missing it will make it worse! Fruit like banana will help long term but for acute help try something like Nunn tablets or diarrea treatment powder or magnesium supplement? It's not JUST sodium - you probably have enough of that - its the other salts - Calcium magnesium phosphate etc.
  • d87heaven
    d87heaven Posts: 348
    As has been said it could be dehydration/lack of salt. Otherwise it maybe trigger points in the gastrocs or soleus. These can range from small twitching of the muscle to full on cramp type feelings.
    Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals! Except the weasel
  • ShutUpLegs
    ShutUpLegs Posts: 3,522
    The HIGH5 zero tabs are an electrolyte drink with added magnesium. Try these :?:
  • venster
    venster Posts: 356
    Hi

    I suffer from cramps and have been taking these for the last few months and I'm happy with their results. I'm not saying they are a 100% cure but have helped immensely.

    http://www.boots.com/en/Boots-Pharmaceu ... -_1139816/

    They are rather big and if you have trouble swallowing tablets then you may have a problem...
  • t.m.h.n.e.t
    t.m.h.n.e.t Posts: 2,265
    Start with googling "restless leg syndrome" and seeing your GP before you run out and buy copious amounts of High5 sachets or bottles of pills to pop before bed.

    My mother dearest suffers with this ^
  • jgsi
    jgsi Posts: 5,062
    T.M.H.N.E.T wrote:
    Start with googling "restless leg syndrome" and seeing your GP before you run out and buy copious amounts of High5 sachets or bottles of pills to pop before bed.

    My mother dearest suffers with this ^

    well stop her going hell for leather on the turbo at 11pm

    I almost get banned from evening 10s and road races in the summer as it afflicts me own legs 8 times out of 10.
    As far as I'm concerned it can be annoying... but even more annoying is that I can sleep thru it.
    Magnesium oil, snake oil, powders have sod all affect
  • disorganisedmum
    disorganisedmum Posts: 46
    Hi,thanks for all your replies.I've been away for the weekend so sorry for not replying.I went away on friday and hadn't done any cycling since wednesday and got home today,my point being that all over the weekend my legs were a nightmare.They were going into spasm all night for 2 nights on the trot.Suppose I'm going to have to go to the doctors but don't really hold out much hope.Are spasms and cramps the same sort of thing?
  • whojanicanackerov
    whojanicanackerov Posts: 383
    HI this website maybe of help http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/rest ... s_legs.htm
  • Simon Notley
    Simon Notley Posts: 1,263
    I get this sometimes. The internet always seems to suggest magnesium, but I am not sure there is any evidence. I tried magnesium tablets and sometimes felt like they helped, but was probably just a placebo effect. I actually find that the most useful thing is stretching out the calves and hamstrings - for me the twitching seems to occur when I have tightness down the back of my legs. For me the twitch nearly always originates in the calf muscle and stretching seems to help. Massage of the area feels like it helps as it kid of triggers the twitchy feelings, but I'm not sure it actually alleviates later twitching.

    There also seems to be a large psychological or neurological element. The twitches get much worse if I am anxious, particularly if I am anxious about the twitching! As you can imagine, this can be a vicious circle! The good news is that for me it seems to have become less of a problem. Whether this is because I am less anxious, riding a bit less or stretching more or eating/drinking better, I have no idea.
  • lawrences
    lawrences Posts: 1,011
    I can't quite tell

    but it seems this thread is a complaint that he gets a free workout at night?

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