Cramps often occur in various part of the body, it regularly comes and goes. Most commonly, cramps tend to occur in the calf and thigh muscles. The majority of the pains starts involuntarily and cannot be controlled when it comes. They commonly occur at night during sleep, and they are sharp, sudden, and severe, and it is noticed downward from the thigh in most situations. Thigh cramps can be caused not only due to muscular stress but also due to diabetes, nerve problems, dehydration, imbalance, medications, and pregnancy.
Exercises to Get Rid of Thigh Cramps
Thigh cramps can hinder a good sleep. Muscular pain is not a critical medical condition and can be treated with simple home remedies like massage, diet, exercise and stretching. There are several exercises to get rid of thigh cramps:
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Hamstring Stretches for Cramps Behind Your Thigh
- When you have a cramp behind your thigh, you have to pull your hamstring. There are the different method you can deploy on your hamstring that will help alleviate the pain associated with thigh cramp.
- Using towel or belt; fall flat on the ground, let the cramped leg be up vertically. You will wrap the belt and towel surrounding the ball of the injured foot, hold the tip of the sheet or belt and calmly pull the leg back. You can also try using one hand to massage the thigh as you hang on until you are done stretching.
- If there is difficulty in laying down, you can also use the towel or the belt while sitting down. Your leg should be stretched to the front, and a bending move will get your leg healed.
- Try walking around, in the space between stretching to aid the relaxation of your hamstring and getting rid of thigh cramps.
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Quad Stretches to Get Rid of Thigh Cramps
- For cramps that occur at the front of your thigh, you have straight out your quad. There is a single step to pull your quad, which will get rid of the thigh cramp
- Stand up and bend the cramped leg backward towards your butt. For deeper stretch, if you can, hold your foot and pull towards your butt.
- When pulling, don’t do it force or roughly because it could cause a strain, but pull gently. Intensify the stretching as the uneasiness reduces from your leg.
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Walking—An Effective Exercise to Not Only Prevent But Also to Get Rid of Thigh Cramps:
- Mild practices like walking can aid in stretching cramped thigh muscle. Typically, movement stretches the muscles and helps you relax
- Walking gently is the best exercise and offers various benefits.
- Quiet walk is an effective exercise to free your thigh muscles. Take a long walk to make sure you are using the entire muscles. Walking can help prevent thigh cramps.
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Strengthening Exercises for Thigh & Calf Muscles
- Try putting your weight on the leg that has the cramping, bend your knee slightly, while your foot stays flat on the floor.
- When facing a wall, stay at a small distance away from the wall, and try leaning against the wall using your hands as support. While keeping your leg straight and your heel and foot on the floor, you lean on the wall using your upper body.
- Alternatively, you can use your hands to position yourself on the wall. Place the toe area of the affected leg against the wall and heel on the ground. Keeping your leg straight, rest your upper body on the wall in other to stretch the calf muscle.
- If you cannot stand, you can try doing this exercise while sitting. Sit with the cramped leg on a chair for a long time, lift the top of your foot towards your head and chest region, keeping the legs straight.
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Yoga
Yoga can also help release stress and tension from your muscles. Restorative and Yin Yoga are specifically meant for the stretching out and repair of muscles. Yoga can help boost your body fitness and can go a long way in preventing thigh cramps.
Remedies to Get Rid of Thigh Cramps
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Massage
Massage is an effective remedy that can help get rid of thigh cramp immediately; you should apply small forces with your finger to the area of the thigh where you are experiencing the cramp and touch firmly at the spot where you feel the pain. The touches may be hard or soft depending on which works appropriately well for you to reduce the pain. Massage eases muscular tension and also aid proper circulation of blood flow to the affected areas thereby not only getting rid of the thigh cramps but also preventing one.
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Heat Therapy
- Warmth can be applied to the sphere of the affected muscles, which can help soothe the pain from the thigh cramp.
- In order to try heat therapy for thigh cramps, one can make use of warm towel, a heating pad, or using hot water to take your bath. Many people get relief when the sensation of warmth or heat is felt at the location of the cramped thigh muscle. Heat therapy also promotes circulation of blood to the affected areas.
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Cold Therapy
- Most people benefits from applying ice to the cramped thigh muscles. The sensation of the ice helps free the muscles. The is what must athletes uses
- Don’t think of placing ice directly on your skin. Fill a medium sized bag with ice, and pour enough water to the ice. Let the air out by squeezing, cover it tightly, wrap the bag in a towel and apply it to the affected area
- Alternatively, frozen veggies are another quick alternative for cold therapy. You can consider frozen veggies such as peas or corn. Wrap it in a damp towel and apply it to the cramped area.