Stiffness of muscles or muscle spasms in arms, hands, or calves can be very uncomfortable if not treated properly. Muscle spasms are involuntary muscle contractions that are pretty painful. It includes tightening your muscles. Specific steps can help prevent or ease these muscle spasms, but these techniques do not always work for you. Regular massage, stretching, or using muscle relaxants can be pretty helpful.
Muscle spasms occur when your muscles forcibly contract uncontrollably.
You may experience muscle cramps when your muscles involuntary contract and cannot relax. Muscle spasms are very common, and any of your muscles can be affected by this problem. Muscle spasms or stiffness can involve any part of your muscle or sometimes all of it. It can even involve several muscles in a group. However, the most common sites for muscle cramps or spasms are arms, hands, feet, thighs, calves, and abdomen. If muscle spasms occur in calves, they are referred to as “Charley Horses.” Sometimes, you might experience cramps in your legs at night, called “Nocturnal Leg Cramps.”
Muscle spasms can range from mild to intense pain and discomfort.
The muscle spasms you experience can be mild to uncomfortable cramps or just a feeling of discomfort to severe pain. When you touch the spastic muscles, you feel that they are more complex than the normal muscles and visibly appear distorted. These muscle cramps may last as early as a few seconds to minutes, or sometimes they might continue for a more extended period. They may also recur many times before settling down.
Muscle cramps or spasms can occur to anyone anytime. No matter whether you are young or old, active or passive, muscle spasms can develop. They can happen when you walk, exercise, sit, or sleep. However, some people are prone to getting muscle spasms frequently, and any physical exertion by those individuals ends up in muscle cramps.
How would you diagnose and treat muscle spasms?
Apart from your medical history and your medications, your healthcare provider needs to know certain other aspects and information for diagnosing this problem, such as the severity level of the pain, a time when you usually experience these spasms, the longevity of the muscle cramps, how they feel like it, or any other symptoms associated with them.
Spasms may occur even when you are sleeping or resting. Although no magical treatments can instantly relieve the pain, there are specific steps you can try to get rid of these painful muscle cramps. First, you must try stretching the affected muscles; then, you might massage the affected area using a massage roller or your hands. Standing up and walking around is sometimes enough to ease up the pain.
Furthermore, you may also try applying ice or heat packs to the affected area. Another option is taking painkillers such as acetaminophen and ibuprofen. According to many experts, a regular dose of Vitamin B12 significantly keeps muscle spasms at bay.
If your spasms are unbearable, see your healthcare provider immediately.
If the spasms are frequent, long-lasting, or not bearable, it is best to consult a healthcare expert immediately. Various symptoms need to be addressed immediately. These symptoms include changes in your leg’s skin, numbness or swelling in the legs, intense pain, frequent leg cramps that do not let you sleep, electrolyte imbalances, and fluid abnormalities.
Immediate consultancy with your healthcare expert is necessary if any of the above conditions occur because it is quite possible that your muscle spasms could be an indication of a severe underlying medical condition that needs to be addressed and treated as soon as possible.