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Cramps!

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settingsteel

SettingSteel
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Aug 14, 2007
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I just went thru a fright this weekend and practically drowned when both my calves got knotted and I couldn't move my fins, that same day I got a cramp on my left ham that was pain to the point that I thought I tore a muscle, now 2 days later my L-ham is still in pain (like if I worked out at the gym type of pain)
We have all had them one time or another, and bad enough it can cost you your life...why do YOU get them- nutrition, sleep, drug (rx or otherwise), muscle tone, not stretching. And what do YOU do to prevent them
 
PLEASE dont quote me on this

but from my knowledge(or lack there of) it comes from not enough fluids.
 
I did a free dive and spearo course a few years back and one of the first things that I was told, no told isn’t right more like drummed into was that to hydrate properly before a dive is one of the most important things that you can do to stop the onset of cramp.
I drink around 1.5ltrs of water before I dive and have not yet suffered with the deadly cramp.
Hope this helps Tone.
 
Reactions: Jonny250
Thx for the insight guys!...I usually drink about a qt or 2 of an electolyte fluid, I was told also that caffiene, can bring on cramps...and lack of sleep too, wonder if this is accurate?
 
If you don't have a medical condition prohibiting you from quinine, tonic water has helped me prevent those post dive nighttime cramps that can screw up some sleepy time. don't know why. Never have tried it during the day as i avoid carbonation and corn syrup while spearing.
 
If you aren't pissing every 30 minutes you aren't hydrated enough.
Also eat bananas. (Ignore the superstitions...)
 
Reactions: settingsteel
Funny we actually had some babanas onboard and I ate a few...tonic water sounds interesting as does the pissing...all good tips thx guys/gals:friday
 
If you're not wearing fin keepers, they will help the calves.
 
I always cramp only when stuff goes wrong: tangles, boat overhead with prop spinning, tough swims through rocks etc. Must be generally stress related. That happen to anyone else? Having said that in 2 years of 2xweek dives I have only had 3 cramps or so.
 
Take it from an old competition swimmer:

1. Hydration is imperative.
2. Mineral & vitamin suppliments help. Potasium (in bananas) also helps.
3. Stay away from sports drinks like gatorade, etc.
4. Stretching reduces incidence of cramps.
5. Good massage will help reduce the pain & soreness after a cramp.

Good luck.
 
Reactions: podge and settingsteel

Al: whats up with #3??? I often drink that sports sweets stuff and find it helps me through a tough session. Why would they be bad?
 
Reactions: settingsteel
Good tips agbiv...if I had to guess the answer to number 3 is it throws off the electrolyte balance, but then are not those drinks " electrolyte balanced"?

While on the electolyte balance topic I was also told to up potassium as we usually are off balance do to the high sodium content in everything we consume.

I did do #4&5 after the fact, and Azapa, I can also relate to "stuff goes wrong" example as I have cramped up do to a weird position I got myself in trying to untangle a floatline, avoiding a prop when waves are banging me around, or even while climbing back into a boat, but this particular instance was quite unique in that I was just holding on to the boat about to board and BAM craped on my left ham and it would come and go for about 15min all the time I was just holding on to the boat then later the ham kept acting up but I would just relax and massage it while in the water then towards the end of the day I got hit on both calves, quite scary:crutch
 
Most of the "electrolyte balanced" drinks contain way too much sodium v. potasium. Yes they'll have potasium but LOTS of sodium! Don't need it as it actually dehydrates you. Better to go with good old agua. Also as others pointed out caffinated drinks aren't good either! Beer is fine AFTER diving & playing w/ sharp objects. :friday Also the massage doesn't need to be real forceful--just rub to loosen not tenderize. Settingsteel sounds like your balances were way off to get that bad in two calves & a ham! When I used to do backstroke sprints I'd get calves & big toe cramps that were rippers! Placing foot flat on a surface and lean forward gently stretching the muscle till it relaxes. For big toe (tries to remove itself from the foot) stifle scream & hand massage until it rejoins sanity. And stress does factor but it's usually because you're focusing on something else & tensing up. Predive stretches!
 
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As I understand it the some sodium helps to transport water to the tissue. I'm not suggesting to go to just gatorade. Combined with water, I believe it's good stuff. I got a cramp while running a week ago, it was still hurting today. I drink a LOT of water. A friend kept recommending salt tablets to get the water into the tissue. I drank a bottle of Gatorade instead and it seems to have helped. But I won't know for sure until morning, since I also had a good swim this evening. I'm sure some of it is time too. I've done the banana's too.

Another thing about Gatorade and freediving. Gatorade is acidic. I've had it cause some throat burn while diving if I over do it. So I drink some water and quit the Gatorade for the day.

Also drink the water throughout the day. Many mouth fulls of water over an hour seems to help much more than downing a bottle of water as fast as you can. "Sipping" it I seem to retain more of it. Chugging it, I just pee most of it out almost as fast as it went in.
 
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Just had a conversation with a old school dive bud and surprisingly he recommended....tonic water too, says it has quinine which helps with leg cramps, also suggested pedialyte (or something of the sort given to infants it replenishes electrolyte balance), and finally suggested an OTC electrolyte mineral replacement with Calcium, potassium and sodium with smaller % of trace minerals...if the cramps continued.
 
I'm guessing that the salt in gatorade helps for people who are sweating. I don't think this applies for us.
 
This is turning into my kind of thread.
Lets just recap, we’ve got-
Tonic, for the Gin
Beer
Two calves,mmmm Veal
And a whole Ham
And all finished off with a gentle massage
I’ll tell you folks, life is good

sorry couldn't help myself
but there is some good stuff here and thanks for shareing.
 
Reactions: Mongrel454 and settingsteel
kmo said:
I'm guessing that the salt in gatorade helps for people who are sweating. I don't think this applies for us.
Click to expand...

This is not entirely true!

Just because your in the water does not mean you won't sweat. If you are in the desert you don't think your sweating because it evaporates. If you're in the water you do still sweat (depending on conditions of course). That is part of the reason people don't realize they are dehydrating. Example, you get in a swimming pool that is cool. You start swimming and moving about and the water does not feel cold anymore. Your body starts to sweat, you just can't tell. If your in a wetsuit laying on the surface with the sun beating on you and you're warm, your probably sweating. If you're slightly cool or cold the whole time, you are not going to be sweating at least as much.

When I was in Florida I had a 3mm suit on in 74 degree water. With the sun on the suit I started to overheat and got nauseous. I went back to the boat and started drinking water and cooling down.

If your going to be in the water for a long period of time, take something to drink. S.S. I've heard of people using Pedialyte too. When I worked with a Junior hockey team, if a player got sick, they would tell them to drink it to re-hydrate and better recovery from the illness. Not the best tasting stuff from what I hear, but I have not tried it. I've even seen some people drink some Gatorade before their diving, then take a water bottle on their float and add a little Gatorade to their water.
 
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