In this video, I'm going to show you how to relieve leg
cramps in seconds. Stay tuned.
Hey, everyone. Dr. Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in
St. Joseph, Michigan. In this video, I'm going to show three
easy exercises that can give instant leg cramp relief even
within seconds. As a note, all of these exercises work just a
little bit differently. So, to get the best results, go
through them all, use what gives you the most relief. With
that being said, let's get started and fix those leg
cramps right now. So, I want to go over a very easy way that
can give instant relief for muscle cramps, spasms, even
muscle twitching. This one has been an absolute game changer
for me. It's widely known that muscle cramps are caused by
dehydration but also from low magnesium but if you've ever
supplemented with magnesium, you know it is not convenient
to do. The pills tend to be very large. You have to take a
lot of em. They can cause stomach discomfort even
drowsiness. That was my experience. So, I looked into
other ways to be able to get magnesium and I found that a
lot of people were having good results with what is known as
oil. It's a topical spray that you can put over the area of
the cramp. The great part about it is, it's widely absorbed in
that area very quickly and it's a lot easier to use. So, with
this, you can pretty much get it at any local pharmacy. I
usually get it online on Amazon. So, if you'd like to go
that route, I will leave a link in this video's comment
section. Before we start though, I want to make a note
that if you do have a pre-existing condition such as
diabetes, or you're concerned that magnesium may affect a
medication that you are currently taking, please speak
to your local doctor first and get the okay. It's always
better to be on the safe side. So, with the magnesium oil,
what we're going to do is just spray it over the area that
we're having a cramp like let's say it's right over my calf
muscle right here. I like to do about 2 to three sprays, coat
the whole area and then I gently massage that into my
skin. If you really have a bad cramp, you may notice that this
will relief within seconds. I've had really good results
with it within about 15 to 20 seconds before but it may take
a little bit longer depending on your condition. So, from
there, you're just going to let it sit. You can go over any
area that you want. You can use it over your calves. You can
use it over your quads right here, hamstrings, over any
muscle actually in the body that is having a cramp. I've
used this on my shoulders before, chest, back. It works
really well but you'll probably notice too that if you have low
magnesium levels that you're going to get itchiness that
forms over the area that you just sprayed. That is
completely normal. That's usually a sign of low magnesium
so hopefully this is going to help you. With repeated use and
through the next couple days, you're probably going to notice
that that itchiness becomes less and less to the point
where you don't have it anymore. So, the great part
about magnesium oil, it is readily absorbed in that area
so it can get instant relief. You can use it over any muscle
in the body but you can also use it as a preventative means
for leg muscle cramps. So, if you would like to use it that
way, take the bottle and just spray a little bit over the
bottom of your feet before you go to bed. Again, I usually do
about two to three sprays on both feet, rub it in, and go to
bed. You're probably going to notice throughout the day that
you have less muscle tightness, less cramping going on. So,
give that a try. It's also a really good way to keep your
muscles loose after working out like let's say that you just
did a really strong shoulder workout and you're afraid that
you're going to have a lot of tightness and possibly cramping
going on, spray a little bit in your hand and just rub it over
the muscle that you just worked out. You're probably going to
notice it helps quite a bit. Another note too, with
magnesium while it is a big cause of cramping, make sure to
drink plenty of water throughout the day. Dehydration
is a major cause of leg muscle cramps. So, throughout the day,
get plenty of water in. Another way to get instant leg cramp
relief is by releasing that muscle tightness with a self
massage I'm going to show you three easy and effective ways
to be able to do this I would start with the first one
because it's the lightest of the three but if you need
something that's a little bit more intense and deep you're
more than welcome to progress into the other two before we
start if you do have something like a massage oil or lotion
something that is designed to be put on the skin I would grab
that and coat the whole area that you're focusing on and
makes it a lot more comfortable to do the self massages. So,
the first method is called the thumb rolling massage. What I'm
going to do is just take my thumbs and just do an
overlapping rolling motion like this. We're going to stroke
upward towards the heart. This will help improve circulation
and give you better results. So, wherever you're having a
muscle cramp like, let's say it's right on the inner part of
my calf right here. You're going to right below that cramp
and then start to do a self massage. Apply enough pressure
in there where it's going to be comfortable but not causing
more discomfort. I like to go over a small area like this
roughly for about five to 10 seconds and then I just move up
and repeat. Going the whole length of the cramp then you're
going to want to work on the outside like this and then also
on the inside. Any spot that needs a little bit more
attention like let's say it's right here for me. I have a big
spasm spend more time over that position until it finally
releases. With this one too, you can pretty much do it over
any muscle in the legs. So, you can do it over the adductors,
on the inner part of the thigh right here. You can do it over
the knee. You can do it over the quadriceps, over the whole
thigh. If you are having a lot on the hamstring though, you'll
probably find that you'll want to do this motion using your
fingers like a rake like this instead of your thumbs because
it's not very easy. So, usually what I do is just grab my
fingers and do that same motion on the back of my thigh hitting
those hamstrings just like this so if you feel like that is
just not offering the relief that you need you can make it a
little bit more intense or intense by a finger pinching
motion instead so with this one what I want to do is pinch
right into that muscle so you want to go a little bit deeper
than the skin pinch into those muscle fibers and then roll
upward like this I was treat this one kind of like pinching
dough so with this one I'm just going to trace that muscle just
pinch right in working over any spot that just feels like it
needs a little bit more attention like let's say I have
a big muscle cramp right here I just kind of do this over and
over again for about five to 10 seconds relax see how it feels
and repeat as needed again you can do this pretty much over
any muscle in the leg that you feel needs just a little bit
more tension it feels generally really really good the last one
is my personal favorite it's called muscle scraping or gua
sha for this one you're definitely going to a form of
lubrication. So, I'm using coconut oil. It's a massage
lotion. Just coat the whole area that you are focusing on
targeting. What you're also going to need is a large metal
spoon. I like one with a little bit more thickness to it. It
usually will offer little bit better results. So, with the
spoon, it doesn't matter what part you use. You can use the
handle. You can use the rounded portion. I like to use the
handle but experiment with it. Any spot that works a little
bit better for you, go with it. So, again, with this one, I'm
going to do is target right below the spot that I'm having
a muscle cramp. Let's say it's right on the inner part of my
thigh right here. What I'm going to do is angle my spoon
roughly about 30 to 45 degrees and apply enough pressure in
there where it's going to be a self massage but not causing
discomfort. You're going to do a slow stroke upward again
going towards the heart. I like to do this for about five
repetitions over one spot and then I just move over a
different spot and repeat until I've gone over the whole area.
When you do this, you're probably going to notice that
red pockets start to form over the skin. I don't know if you
can see it right here over this video right here but that's a
good thing. That's actually blood flow coming into the area
which will help promote healing. You're probably going
to notice too that certain spots just feel like sandpaper.
It's like really gritty. That's usually a spot of adhesion and
you want to target that just a little bit more to break that
up because it may help improve your cramping but explore the
whole area and any spot that needs it a little bit more,
throw some more repetitions in. Instead of going straight up
with it too, you can also attack it at different angles
so go kind of like 45 degrees like this. You can use
different parts of the spoon to dig in there. It's just a
really effective way to get rid of a lot of soft tissue
tightness that maybe leading to your muscle cramps. Here's a
really easy exercise that you can do for both quick and
long-lasting leg cramp relief. I call this one the knee pump.
In fact, it's perfect to do any that you feel a cramp starting
to build, it may help prevent it. To get into position, we're
going to start standing. Take your hands, put them together
like a prayer position, put them against your chest. This
will help keep the back straight during this exercise.
To help support the back even more. Let's tighten the core
muscles. It's like taking our belly button towards our spine
and then we're going to squeeze our glutes. We're going to take
one step forward like this and put our body into a scissored
stance. It's really important during this exercise we don't
lift up on the feet. They're kept flat. We're then going to
bend our knees slightly and lunge forward with our body
weight as much as we can until we feel a really deep stretch
on the front of our back leg. This is going to hit the
iliosoas and also the hip flexors. Once you feel that,
you're going to hold this position and now, to take this
one to the next level, what we're going to do is that knee
pumping motion. So, we're going to straighten our back knee as
much as we can as you do this, you're going to feel the glute
really start to fire, you're going to feel it in the
hamstrings working towards the knee into your calves and
ankle. Only go to a point where it is stretching that cramp.
It's not causing any more discomfort. If that's the case,
back off slightly but you want to hold this position for a
couple seconds. You're going to relax on the next repetition.
Try to build into it just a little bit more. So, again,
it's just a nice, slow pumping motion like this to get those
muscles moving and improve circulation. I like to do this
one roughly for about 10 to 15 repetitions and then from
there, if it feels like it needs a little bit more, you
can always throw in another set or two and I do recommend doing
this on both sides to keep everything imbalance. Let's
take this one to even the next level and focus on some more
muscles including on the inner part of our thigh. So, for this
one, instead of lunging forward, I'm going to lunge
towards my side. So, let's get back into prayer position just
like this and step towards one side whatever side that you're
stepping towards so in this case it's my left I'm going to
keep my other leg straight so my right knee is straight my
foot is going to be kept flat during this exercise and I'm
just going to lunge with my body weight as much as I can
the more that you lunge over the more that you're going to
feel a deep stretch in the glutes but more importantly in
the inner part of your thigh hold this one for a couple of
seconds you're going to come back up like this and then just
repeat on the other side. You want to do this one nice and
slowly for 10 to 15 repetitions on both sides. With each
repetition, build into it just a little bit more and again, if
it feels like it needs a little bit more, you can throw in as
many repetitions as you like. If the exercises help, please
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can. Thanks for watching.