Foot Cramps: The Bane of Exercise, Sleep, and Many Other Things

Lots of folks get cramps in their feet in the middle of the night while they're sleeping - these can be very painful and will usually leave you feeling sluggish the next day.

While exercising, a cramp in your foot will be very painful and even dangerous if it happens at the wrong time. Whatever exercise you were engaging in will come to a screeching halt, and these types of cramps can be very discouraging when you think about trying the same type of exercise later.

You might not have been exercising, but instead shopping for groceries at the store, or playing with your children in the yard, or doing the laundry. It happens all the time.

So, what can this article do about it for you? Simple: show you how to (1) deal with a foot cramp with as little pain as possible and (2) prevent them from happening altogether without having to totally change your lifestyle.

With just the right set of techniques and tricks you can beat these cramps 99 out of 100 times and continue on about your business as usual - let's get right into it.

You can find a product called "Stops Leg & Foot Cramps" at most local health stores (see video). It might be weird folk medicine or whatever you want to call it, but it is completely natural & organic and will stop your foot cramps almost instantly, like magic.

Apparently the mixture of natural ingredients in this product is an Amish remedy, which I assume was used when the men got muscle cramps while laboring outdoors or maybe even for foot cramps the women got while pregnant. Probably still is.

This old Amish remedy is only made by Caleb Treeze Organic Farm, you can order from the website below. When you get a cramp, take a sip of this stuff and consider trying some of the other techniques below to get rid of the pain even faster.

http://www.stopslegcramps.com

• With your shoes on, hold onto a chair or table and lift one foot and apply pressure to the front of the cramping foot.
• In some cases, the socks or shoes that you are wearing can actually be the cause of the cramps in the first place. Remove socks and shoes and see if it does any good.
• Massaging the cramping part of the foot (which seems to be right smack-dab in the middle of the bottom of your foot most of the time) can sometimes help, but I've found that this sometimes causes the cramp to come back twice as bad as soon as you stop, so use this one with caution.
• Pull your toes backwards towards your knee. Put your heel on the ground and wrap your palm around the bottom of your toes, pulling towards your body.
• If all else fails, just walk it off. Try your best to put pressure on the foot and continually move forward. Skip if you have to, just work towards returning to a normal walk as you go, apply pressure to the foot and force it to return to normal.

Muscle cramps are THE most common injury in ALL sports. Period. I'd imagine it is about the same when it comes to working out in the gym, jogging through the park, bicycling around the block, or just about anything else.

If that isn't enough, millions of people also get cramps in their feet or legs every single night while they're sleeping. Foot Cramps are Very Common. With that being said, for some people they are also very uncommon and I believe the reason for this is a combination of lifestyle and diet.

It's hard to get all of your vitamins from natural sources these days, and taking vitamin pills doesn't always have as nearly as good of an effect on your health. My absolute favorite thing about the "Stops Leg & Foot Cramps" Amish remedy I mentioned earlier is that it's made with only apple cider vinegar, ginger, and garlic. The 3 combined are a huge kick of vitamins and minerals like magnesium for your body, so it stops the cramps and might stop them for good over time.

If you've got a long day ahead of you, you can take a couple doses of this remedy before you head out. It'll usually prevent any cramps for the whole day. Read through the bullet points below for a few slight changes that can make big differences in how often your feet cramp.

• Consider waking up 15 minutes earlier than usual and taking that time to stretch and exercise your feet a little bit. This can be especially useful if you aren't going to be getting much exercise for the rest of the day.
• Alcohol and extra salty french fries dry out your body. Without enough water going through your system, your muscles are going to have a hard time functioning under any conditions (even when you are doing absolutely nothing). Drink plenty of water, and consider drinking gatorade or another sports drink after sweating a lot to replenish some of the nutrients you lost.
• Check to see if your shoes are at all worn out or ill-fitting. Bad shoes can cause terrible cramps while you're walking, they can also mess up your feet so much that they start cramping up later that night while you're trying to sleep. Also find out if you are flat-footed or have a high arch - Dr. Scholls has free stations in stores like WalGreens that you can stand on and they will tell you about your arch.
• For sports players or anyone that is trying to push themselves physically, not having healthy eating habits every single day can greatly affect your performance and likely cause a cramp, either in your foot or somewhere else. Don't skip meals, and try to work on choosing healthy eating options day in and day out.
• Pushing your muscles too hard can cause a cramp, and failing to exercise often enough can lead to a serious foot cramp in the middle of the night or while relaxing on the couch. Learn to gradually increase the amount of time you exercise and allow your exercise intensity to follow behind your strength and stamina.

You don't want to wait until the next time your foot cramps up. If you've already had at least a couple incidents, you are likely going to have a third and a fourth if you don't do anything.

Use the "Stops Leg & Foot Cramps" Amish remedy in a pinch, or take a few doses before getting in your car or leaving your house for the day to prevent cramps altogether. If you simply do this every time you feel a cramp coming on and be sure to regularly exercise and stretch the muscles in your feet, you just might find that you never have another cramp in your foot again.