Muscle cramps or leg cramps is a sudden involuntary contraction of muscles. This contraction may include one or multiple muscles at a time. Pain experienced in muscle cramp is very acute and lasts for a very brief period of time. As such no medication is required for getting relief from this problem as it gets cured on its own.
There are various activities that can lead to leg cramp such as standing for a extended period of time, exercise for long hours, rarely but hot weather can also lead to leg cramps.
Does Mustard Help Leg Cramps?
Some of the common causes for muscle or leg cramp are over use of muscles, strain in muscles, dehydration and so on. In most of the cases cramps are harmless but in some cases it occurs as a result of some underlying medical issues, such as:
- Nerve compression
- Inadequate supply of blood
- Mineral depletion
As discussed above leg cramps does not require any specific treatment as some self care measures can be helpful in getting relief from the problem. It is only when the pain becomes very severe and lasts for an extended period of time; patient should go for medication help. In addition, experts always recommend use of herbal or home remedies for self treatment muscles or leg cramps. (2)
Home remedies have been around since the beginning of the civilization. Instead of chemicals people made use of spices, herbs and various different products that will be helpful in curing many health problems. However, after the introduction of modern medications and pharmaceuticals the importance of these home remedies has started fading down. The irony is that doctors did not learn about these in schools or pharmaceutical companies did not show interest in investing huge amount on products which they cannot patent. This is the reason why doctors started giving importance to modern medications over home remedies for treating common ailments.
For the past many years, people believe that a spoon full of mustard is very effective in treating muscle cramps. Doctors are strictly against this theory because according to them there is no way mustard can work for patients suffering from muscle cramp. They are of the opinion that this theory does have a defy logic.
Home Remedies Usually Defy Logic
When we talk about home remedies one common question that arises in the mind of majority of people is how mustard work on muscle cramp? The answer to this question was not clear and this is the reason why medical experts consider this skeptical. Without any partial explanation on the action mechanism, they completely deny to believe that mustard can be of any help in treating health problems.
- It Won’t Hurt and Is Affordable
- While looking for a solution that works on the problem we mainly consider the following key points:
- It should provide relief from the problem
- Do not have any side effect on the body
- Should be affordable for all groups
One interesting fact is that doctors were not aware how aspirin works on body pain and fever until it was explained by the Bayer company. However, this does not stop people from using aspirin for easing body ache.
Mustard vs. Cramps
Now we have a clear explanation on the fact that how mustard work on relaxing muscle cramps. For the past decade, many trainers who are training athletes it was found that leg cramp occur because of dehydration or disproportion of electrolytes such as magnesium, sodium and potassium. Researchers have explained that mustard promptly provide relief from leg cramps induced electrically. Further, they also explained that the action mechanism of mustard is not based on the electrolyte replenishment.
Strong Flavors of Mustard
Some of the people are of the opinion that the strong flavor of mustard plays a significant role in relaxing muscles, thus; proving relief from the acute pain. (1)
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