Thigh Cramps Causes

Muscle cramps are one of the most common pains suffered by humans. What is a muscle cramp anyway? A muscle cramp is a condition where, due to prolonged unconditioned activity or tightening of a muscle, the muscle experiences a spasm or an involuntary tightening. A person suffering from the cramp, unfortunately has no control over the cramp when it occurs, but a light stretching exercise will help reduce the pain and bring the muscle back into its normal position. But what are the causes of these thigh cramps and pain?

Thigh Cramps Causes

There are several causes of muscle cramps in thighs. Once you learn what causes leg cramps you will find out how thigh cramps can be avoided in the future.

Cause #1: Muscle Overuse
One of the mistakes which most people do is, go on a rigorous exercise program all of a sudden. What happens in such a case is that the muscle fibers that are usually not used to all the action, suddenly find themselves overworked. At the same time, if you start a tough workout program, without warming up, cold-starting the leg muscles too may cause painful cramps in the thighs.

Cause #2: Dehydration
When you overwork your body, especially in hot and humid climatic conditions, the sweat glands release a lot of sweat to keep your body cool. Hence the body loses the water-known as dehydration - which was supposed to be supplied to the muscles. Along with water, the body also loses other minerals like potassium, calcium, magnesium and sodium, which leads to the cramping in thigh muscles.

Cause #3: Incorrect Posture
Sometimes sitting, standing or sleeping in an uncomfortable position may lead to thigh cramps at night. Wrong posture is one of the most common causes of thigh cramps in bed. When you sleep in an odd position, the circulation gets disrupted and hence, the lack of supply of oxygen to the thighs leads to thigh muscle cramps at night.

Causes #4: Medical Conditions
Circulatory problems is one of the most common causes of thigh cramps. Problems like atherosclerosis, leads to narrowing in the arteries and hence there may be a shortage in the supply of blood and oxygen to the thigh muscles. Another cause of thigh cramps is low levels of potassium in the body (known as hypokalemia). The next reason for thigh cramps is certain medications like birth control pills and use of diuretic medications for high blood pressure.

Causes #5: Pregnancy
Thigh cramps in early pregnancy and thigh cramps in late pregnancy are a fairly common occurrence. A woman experiences thigh cramps during pregnancy due to factors like hormonal changes which lead to an imbalance in the levels of calcium and phosphorus.

Thigh Cramps Prevention

So as you know most of the thigh cramps causes now, here are some ways to avoid them.

• The most common way of avoiding thigh cramps is to consume enough water. Loss of water from the body leads to cramps and hence the loss of water must be compensated.
• Always warm-up your muscles before exercising. Get the muscles ready for the exercise program and do not rush them into it. This will avoid both, muscle pain and muscle cramps.
• Always sit or sleep in correct posture. Make sure you do not put undue pressure on the muscles 'at rest' positions!
• If the muscle cramps are due to a chronically low levels of calcium, magnesium or potassium, see a doctor and take the prescribed medication for it.

Read on for more on remedies for muscle cramps and preventing leg cramps.

So these were some of the thigh cramps causes and how to avoid them. If you need thigh cramps treatment, then you should go to a professional doctor who will prescribe you some medication.