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Leg Cramps at Night: Causes and Remedies

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Charley Horse Causes and Remedies

Written By: Margaret Boyles Contributor

Eeow! Startled from a deep sleep, you suddenly come to with a shriek, as your calf, thigh, or maybe the arch of your foot contracts in violent pain. Commonly called a “Charley horse,” this is a common and painful occurrence. Discover what causes leg cramps at night, as well as how you can prevent and relieve them.

Usually, a leg cramp strikes during the night or when you’re resting. Groggily, you struggle to straighten your leg, pull your toes forward, perhaps kneading the knotted muscles with your thumbs. After the spasms subside, you may get up and try to hobble around a bit to loosen up the painful area a little more.

By now you’re completely awake, and you may not return to sleep. The cramped muscles may remain tender for hours or even days.*

The nighttime “Charley horse” is an age-old, global problem. Other languages use terms that translate into phrases like muscle hangover, wooden leg, thigh hen, thigh cookie, donkey bite, old woman, and water buffalo.

What Causes Leg Cramps at Night?

Sixty percent of adults say they’ve experienced nocturnal leg or foot cramps at some time in their lives.

Pregnant women and older people tend to suffer nighttime leg cramps more often than other groups, but medical experts say there’s often no clear explanation of why these nighttime leg cramps occur, listing many conditions that might bring one on, including:

  • Dehydration
  • Sitting all day in a cramped position
  • Standing for long periods on concrete floors
  • Electrolyte imbalance 
  • Hard exercise during the day
  • Neurological, neuromuscular, or endocrine disorders
  • Lumbar stenosis
  • A side effect of some drugs

Leg Cramp Remedies

When a cramp startles you from sleep, here are 5 tips to manage the problem:

  1. Take a few breaths and try to stay calm. Panicking may cause you to tighten the affected muscles even further and prolong or intensify the cramp.
  2. If the cramp is in your arch or calf muscles, forcefully extend your toes toward your head and hold the stretch until the cramp subsides. This will release the tension so that the muscles can relax. You may need to sit up, bend over, and pull your toes forward with your hands.
  3. If the cramp is in the back of your thigh, get up or roll out of your reclined position, bend at the waist, supporting yourself on your forearms, and keep bending forward until you feel the cramped muscles stretching out. Hold the stretch until the cramp abates.I’ve had good luck using a towel or a woven stretching strap to help straighten out especially vicious hamstring cramps.
  4. When the acut e pain subsides, get up and walk around a bit to bring oxygen to the cramped muscles. A cold pack or hot pack may help. I like the long, rectangular “beanbags” (cloth sheaths filled with beans or other seeds) heated for a couple of minutes in the microwave and wrapped around sore muscles. (Great for arthritic joints, too.)

How to Prevent Leg Cramps

If you’re prone to leg cramps at night, these 6 tips can help to stop cramps from happening again:

  1. Drink water! Don’t overdo it. Keep a water bottle with you throughout the day. If you’re serious about addressing leg cramps, simply set an alarm or reminder on your phone to drink water throughout your day. Monitor caffeine and alcohol intake. Tea, coffee, smoothies, fruit, and vegetables all contribute to your daily fluid needs.
  2. Loosen the bedcovers so that they don’t press your feet down and shorten the muscles of your arches, encouraging them to cramp.
  3. Start putting potassium- and magnesium-rich foods on your list to eat every day. Good choices: black beans, kidney beans, nuts and seeds, potatoes, sweet potatoes, leafy greens (especially beet greens), bananas, and other fruit.
  4. Go for a deep-tissue therapeutic massage with an experienced practitioner. Ask her/him to teach you the techniques for the muscle groups in the legs and feet, so that you can work the knots out before they become disabling cramps.
  5. A lot of uphill walking/running or stair-climbing shortens the back muscles and the muscles and tendons at the back of the legs, making them more likely to cramp later. Focus attention on stretching these muscle groups, especially after exercise.
  6. Stay flexible with a regular stretching. Here are two common stretches:

Basic calf stretch

Just stretching the affected muscles three times a week will help immensely. Here’s how to do it:

  • Stand with your palms placed against a wall, with arms stretched out
  • Step back with leg of affected calf
  • Lean forward on the other leg and push against the wall

  • You should feel a stretch in your calf muscle and the back of the leg.

Towel stretch

Do this stretch while you sit:

  • Keep legs outstretched in front of you
  • Point the toes of your affected foot at the ceiling so that the leg is engaged
  • Take a towel or neck tie and wrap it around your foot, holding it with both hands
  • Lift the leg slightly until you feel a good stretch

Hold stretch for at least 10 seconds, working up to 30 seconds. And perform each stretch 3 to 5 times. 

(Find more stretches here. Clicking the “Exercise Search” box on the right side.)

The drug quinine, once prescribed to prevent night cramps, is now rarely prescribed for this use, because the possibility of severe adverse reactions outweighs the benefits of its use.

If you start having far more frequent or severe attacks of night cramps, see your doctor for an evaluation to rule out a more serious medical condition.

Restless Leg Syndrome

Don’t confuse nighttime leg cramps with restless leg syndrome (RLS). RLS is annoying and may cause an aching sensation, but it’s not usually painful and doesn’t cause cramping. See home remedies for restless leg syndrome.

*Note: If your calf or thigh is swollen, warm to the touch, or discolored; if your pain gets worse when you get up and walk around and doesn’t subside after a minute or two, seek immediate medical help. Don’t knead or massage a swollen muscle. These symptoms could signal a serious, potentially life-threatening condition called a deep vein thrombosis, a blood clot in a deep vein that can travel to a lung, where it can block blood flow.

Sleep

About The Author

Margaret Boyles

Margaret Boyles

Contributor

Margaret Boyles is a longtime contributor to The Old Farmer’s Almanac. She wrote for UNH Cooperative Extension, managed NH Outside, and contributes to various media covering environmental and human health issues.

Read more from Margaret Boyles

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Comments

<span>Diana K Lasich</span> Tue, 02/28/2017 - 10:30
While Restless Leg Syndrome is not a serious condition, just annoying, it can suggest a much more concerning condition...Anemia! If it persists please check with your Doctor!
<span>Della Moss</span> Tue, 02/28/2017 - 07:39
I use magnesium oil...whenever I get a cramp..I use magnesium oil...this stuff really works
<span>Donn</span> Mon, 02/27/2017 - 20:13
Bar of soap under the sheets! When cramp starts just put the cramped area on the soap and it subsides on less than a minute! Yeah I know you don't believe it but it works for me.
<span>Sheila</span> Mon, 02/27/2017 - 16:32
Two things: First, @ the poster "Judi" who said she used sea salt to increase potassium. Sea salt doesn't have higher amounts of potassium than other salts. That said, there are blends out there where potassium is added. If she was using a blend, it might well have been helpful. If not, sounds like a more basic electrolyte imbalance. Second though, Judi is absolutely correct to note that sometimes the deficiency is potassium. I had a problem several years back with severe gurgling and moderately painful heart palpitations and magnesium didn't help. I was going to head into the hospital to get it checked, but before I did that, I tried, just to see, if potassium helped. Heart palps went away within a week of beginning half-dose supplements.
<span>Judi</span> Fri, 02/24/2017 - 14:40
Be careful with Magnesium...Doc reccommeded Mag supplements and it made my mild leg cramps unbearably painful. Yikes! My research led me to info that I need to balance magnesium, potassium & calcium. I do not eat processed foods & so I was not getting much potassium (salt). But I was taking calcium supplements and eating foods with lots of magnesium. I increased the sea salt (potassium) in my homemade cooking, estabished a balance for these three minerals and leg cramps went away immediately.
<span>Sue</span> Fri, 02/24/2017 - 13:41
Have had off/on over the yrs; the worst one I had was when about 8 mos pregnant with first child. It was softball size/feel and I had a bruise in the calf for the next 2d. Best way for me to alleviate them is to stand barefoot on something cold but not frozen, until the cramp is gone-no idea why it works but I am still grateful to the lady who shared it with me after telling her about the above mentioned event. It has worked every time and I have shared the remedy with many others.
<span>Jessie</span> Fri, 02/24/2017 - 13:25
I suffered from terrible leg and foot cramps, and found some relief from the pickle juice and yellow mustard remedies. But the very best relief came from slipping a bar of regular bath soap under my bottom sheet and leaving it there. It sounds silly, but it's from The People's Pharmacy and they don't know why it works, either. Now I don't have to get out of bed and run to the fridge with painful cramps. Sometimes I rub the leg or foot on the bar of soap for immediate relief.
<span>Sally Gawne</span> Mon, 07/24/2017 - 09:19
A bar of soap at the end of bed works wonders.
<span>Tracey</span> Mon, 02/27/2017 - 16:32
Jessie - the soap under the bottom sheet works for me, too!
<span>Greg</span> Fri, 02/24/2017 - 10:57
Being a teacher and on my feet all day, I suffered leg cramps constantly. It was by accident that while in the hospital for a kidney problem and resultant muscle cramps, I came to a conclusion with the doctor that a magnesium supplement would possibly help. I immediately started taking a 400 mg. tablet each day (over the counter and cheap!) along with potassium supplements I take for my kidneys. It immediately helped and the leg cramps went away for good. I've had only 1 or 2 episodes in 14 years, and this was when I stopped taking the supplement. (It immediately subsided when I went back). I now take the magnesium only once or twice a week (we eat very healthily). I also have learned to do stretches throughout the day and fall sleep with feet curled upward at night. Don't just start popping pills. Discuss it with a doctor or nutritionist first, but maybe this may work for you also.