Cramp Your Style

Cramps, originally uploaded by david_brage.

Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night gasping for air, desperately trying to stretch your leg out in an attempt to battle the sudden onset of an old foe - the hamstring cramp?

Well, I have. Many times.

My dad has told me that you simply have to take some magnesium and calcium supplements and you'll be alright. That's easy enough. That is, until you forget. Once a cramp kicks in it takes a long time to forget though. The memory is etched into your brain like "I love you mom" on the back of an iPod for Mothers day.

When you cramp nothing else matters. The world stops. The pain is really that intense. I have never really reflected on what a cramp is until now. Yesterday I ran my third marathon, and my buddy Cramp showed up and decided to bring along some friends. Before they decided to crash the party things were going really smoothly. Up until the first 13.1 miles I was well under 6:30 min/mile splits and I could see #1 and #2 in the race who where only about 50 yards ahead of me. I felt really good and enjoyed the rolling hills of China Camp just north of San Rafael. About 18 miles into the Marin County Marathon I hit a wall. 6:30 splits turned into 7, then 8, then cramp, then plural. It was all over.

After having both hamstrings and both quadriceps playing a punishing game of cramp-off throughout the last 5 miles of the race I finally crossed the finish line in 3:25:39 and 7th place overall. 28 minutes slower than my PR I guess I should have been somewhat disappointed but I only felt relief. After taking a not-so-comfortable ice bath I started doing a background check on my foe.

Here's a quick overview of what I found:

Dr. Ross Tucker defines cramping as "spasmodic, painful, involuntary contraction of the skeletal muscle that occurs during or immediately after exercise".

OK. Now what causes this nuisance?

Well, this is where it starts to get interesting. According to Physical Therapist Rachel Miller two things cause muscle cramps: 1. sweat, 2. dehydration. A marathon requires our hamstrings, quadriceps and a symphony of other muscles groups to work constantly over a long period of time. This produces heat, hence our body temperature rises. Thank God for sweat glands. These help us keep the temperature down. In addition to body liquid our sweat includes important electrolytes.

According to Wikipedia in chemistry, an electrolyte is any substance containing free ions that make the substance electrically conductive. In physiology, the primary ions of electrolytes are sodium(Na+), potassium (K+), calcium (Ca2+), magnesium (Mg2+), chloride (Cl−), hydrogen phosphate (HPO42−), and hydrogen carbonate (HCO3−).

My dad was right all along!

According to Wikipedia all humans require a subtle and complex electrolyte balance between the outside and inside of our cells. Yup we are talking about osmosis for those that remember biology 101. This is the natural process that regulates the hydration of the body and apparently is critical for nerve and muscle function. Luckily we are all blessed with a number of mechanisms that keep the concentrations of different electrolytes under tight control.

Wikipedia can also tell us that muscle tissue and neurons are considered electric tissues of the body. "Muscles and neurons are activated by electrolyte activity between the extracellular fluid orinterstitial fluid, and intracellular fluid. Electrolytes may enter or leave the cell membrane through specialized protein structures embedded in the plasma membrane calledion channels. For example, muscle contraction is dependent upon the presence of calcium (Ca2+), sodium (Na+), and potassium (K+). Without sufficient levels of these key electrolytes, muscle weakness or severe muscle contractions may occur."

There you have it! "...severe muscle contractions may occur." I can guarantee that it did occur. Could it really be that easy? Folks, just remember your electrolytes?

Other research disagrees with Dr Miller (and the impressive description from Wikipedia) and has found no correlation between dehydration and cramping. Schwellnus' and Noakes' research suggests that age, running experience, higher body-mass index, less and irregular stretching, and it-runs-in-the-family (no pun intended) are all factors that play a part in causing cramps. Finally, exercise-related conditions, such as inadequate training, hard racing, long-distance running, muscle fatigue, and hill running also contributed to their developing muscle cramps.

Well there you have it. There may be lots of reasons why cramping cramps our style. I will do my part to prevent him from crashing another race by:

1. ensuring healthy osmosis by inviting my new friends from the electrolyte family along

2. preparing my quadriceps and hamstrings better

3. more doooownwaaard doooogs and stretching

Please share any advice and/or relevant experiences.