I read somewhere once that you should stretch like a cat every day before getting out of bed. It’s supposed to be good for you. Gets the blood flowing, moves the oxygen to your muscles. If you watch house cats, tigers, and lions you will notice they all do it. Someone drew the conclusion that if it’s good for them, it must be good for us. Do you know what house cats, tigers, and lions all have in common? They are all cats!!! I reached a somewhat different conclusion.
I tried it. I stretched out in the morning, stretching my legs, flexing my toes, reaching up with my arms. It felt great….until it didn’t! Somewhere in the process my muscles went from stretching to cramping and they did it with a vengeance! Punishing me for the audacity of imitating a cat!
There are several different muscles that can cramp up while stretching, or just going about your business without warning. You never know which one it will be. It could be the calf muscle. This one is fairly easy to deal with. We all know the drill. Toes to the nose, and if that doesn’t work you deftly jump out of bed, off the couch, or wherever, and bring all you weight to bear on the offending muscle by standing on that foot. It doesn’t take too long before that calf muscle is back to towing the line and operating per its assigned duty! However, the collection of muscles held in the arsenal of our bodies contain much bigger firepower than the lowly calf, and they have been known to mutiny whenever they please. Stretching is usually the trigger, but on occasion they will get a wild hair and for no reason lash out.
I believe the quadricep is the worst! We think of it as one muscle, but it’s actually made up of four. Together they are a powerhouse unlike any other. The first time that muscle cramped on me I made the mistake of treating it like a calf muscle. Don’t do that! It will only punish you further! It took several times of trying to beat it into submission before I learned to not attempt to straighten my leg. Leave it bent and if possible, play dead like an opossum and try to relax, breathe! Easier said than done, I assure you. Heat packs help. There is something about the heat that increases blood flow to the area and allows the muscle to relax. I usually yell at my husband, “Wake up! Get the heat pack! I have a quad cramp!” It happens often enough that he knows the drill, but the agony of a quad cramp lures me into believing he is taking his sweet time coming out of his dreamy slumber, stumbling down the hall with the heat pack to the microwave. Sometimes he will even take a side trip to the bathroom before coming back! Has he lost his mind?! Does he not recognize the agony? This is an emergency!!! He should be running with singular focus! I can actually feel the muscle rolling and tightening under the skin. Creepy! It can take several minutes for a quadricep cramp to ease up. When it finally does, it can leave an ache that lasts an entire day. The quads don’t mess around!
The next one to sneak up on you is the hamstring cramp. This is a group of three muscles, so not quite the power hitter of the quads, but fairly punishing. If you are feeling brave you can stand with this one, but I don’t recommend it. If you are laying down just stay where you are, and slowly extend your leg. If you are lucky it won’t really notice you doing it. Lay there quietly until the storm has passed.
This last one is a puzzler. It’s a cramp of the muscle on the side of your lower leg next to your shin bone. A muscle I was happily ignorant of until the first time it cramped on me. I had just flown to Phoenix, was enjoying a pleasant conversation with my sister, when all of a sudden my leg felt like someone was stabbing me. My sister started rubbing it as I stood there being tortured. I wasn’t sure if that was helping or making it worse, but it seemed right to try something. It felt like it would never stop. Pain is funny that way. When it finally subsided I was afraid to move for fear of making it angry again. I thought it happened because I had worn flip flops through the airport, causing my toes to grip my shoes. Perhaps putting more strain on the muscles around my shin. However, I have since changed my evil ways and still I get them. Sometimes it happens when I am flexing my toes like a cat!! Again, don’t do that!
I looked into the easy answer of why we can get muscle cramps when we stretch. There are a range of reasons from dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, poor muscle conditioning, to the catch all phrase, “You’re getting older”. You know why I think it happens? I’m not a cat!