Muscle Cramps in Hands

I am sure many of you have experienced muscle cramps in hands. You experience a weird kind of numbness as if your hand has been paralyzed and when the pain starts to reduce, you feel as if hundreds of pins and needles are being poked into your hands. These cramps can occur suddenly and sometimes they can be extremely painful.

What is It?

Cramps are involuntary reactions of our muscles that can occur in any part of our body, mainly the calf muscles, the back and the front of our thighs, and our abdominal area. Many suffer from leg cramps or hand cramps. These cramps are common but at the same time they can be extremely painful and sometimes when they become severe, they might even leave a bruise on the skin of the person. These usually occur when the muscles are working continuously without any rest or when the supply of blood to the muscles, is cut short.

Causes

This usually occurs to a person who uses their hand muscles a lot. In fact, this is a very common thing which all of us have experienced it at one point of their lives as no matter what we do, we all make use of our hands. Sometimes, when we keep our hand in the same position for a long time, suddenly you might feel that your whole arm has become paralyzed. This is because the supply of blood which is required by the muscles, is cut off. These cramps can also occur when we have been using our hands for a long time and the hand muscles have not been rested for long.

Another cause is deficiency of minerals such as sodium, calcium, potassium and magnesium. This deficiency might occur if the person is not following a proper healthy diet which is rich in all these minerals. Some medicines or some therapies, such as chemotherapy might lead to certain side effects, muscle cramps being one. Heavy exercises or sometimes problems of dehydration, pregnancy or maybe lack of Vitamin D in the body, is also responsible.

Treatment

Now that we know what are the various cramp causes, let us see how we can prevent it and also what are the remedies for muscle cramps. While working, if you suddenly feel that the muscle in your hand is getting cramped, then the first thing that you have to do is to stop your work and try and stretch your hand or just rub/massage the affected area vigorously, in order to heat up the muscles. The heat generated, will relax the muscles. You can also just stretch your hands and even flex your fingers, in order to relieve the cramp.

Include lots of magnesium, sodium, calcium and potassium in your diet. Eat lots of nuts and beans and other foods that will provide you with these minerals. Dairy products and oranges and bananas, are rich in calcium, hence you should increase the intake of these products. These cramps might also occur due to old age or arthritis. In this case, the person should take in pure vegetable juices, such as carrot juice or juice of green leafy vegetables. Sometimes, an ice pack placed on the cramped muscle can help a lot.

Usually, when we get these cramps, the muscles automatically relax after sometime. But sometimes, when the cramps becomes too severe or too painful, then one has to visit a doctor so that he/she does not suffer from serious problems like tendonitis or carpal tunnel syndrome. Also, if these cramps occur quite frequently, then medical attention is needed.

Now you know all about why we suffer from muscle cramps and also what are the various treatments that you can carry out in order to prevent and also to get rid of these cramps. If you follow these treatments and preventive methods, then you will not face severe health problems.