Muscle cramps often occur in the calf muscle of the back of the lower leg. It is often characterized by a momentary sharp pain along with a muscle lump beneath the skin. Just like its sudden appearance, muscle cramp disappears the same way without any botheration. However, a doctor should be consulted if you see any of the following symptoms:

    The pain keeps coming back
    The cramps result in weakening of the muscles
    It causes frequent discomfort
    It results in changed skin color, redness or swelling of the skin
    The condition doesn t improve with normal care
    Cramps are not associated with obvious causes such as playing, exercising and jogging

What causes muscle cramps?
Any strain on muscle, dehydration, muscle overuse or simply standing for a prolonged time can lead to muscle cramps. The exact cause of muscle cramps is not known in a lot of cases. There could be the following medical conditions that could lead to such muscle cramps:

    Blood supply: At times when the arteries narrow down resulting in an inadequate blood supply in the leg, a sharp pain can be felt followed by muscle cramps. This can happen while exercising or playing. It disappears as soon as one rests their legs.
    Mineral depletion: Shortage of magnesium, potassium and calcium in the body can lead to muscle cramps. Even medication for high blood pressure can lead to cramps in the legs.
    Nerve compression: Nerve compression of the spine can produce sharp pain on the leg muscles. The pain worsens with longer durations of walk. The symptoms, however, can be delayed a bit if the walking posture is changed, like the way one walks while carrying a shopping cart.

What are the risk factors associated to muscle cramps?

    Dehydration: Muscle cramps often happen among athletes when they get dehydrated and fatigued while performing in hot temperature.
    Age: People over the age of 60 often lose mass in the muscle. The remaining mass gets stressed out soon, resulting in muscle cramps.
    Pregnancy: Pregnant women face frequent muscle cramps due to the sudden increase of body weight and restricted movements in the pregnancy period.
    Medical conditions: Certain medical conditions such as nerve disorder, thyroid problems, liver failure, diabetes etc. greatly increase the chance of muscle cramps.

Some common ways to treat muscle cramps:

    A brisk walk followed by stretching relaxes the muscles and greatly helps in staying away from cramps.
    A diet consisting of magnesium on a regular basis gives relief from muscle cramps.
    A wet cloth soaked in hot water often shows magical results and gives instant relief from muscle cramps.
    Being hydrated throughout the day helps with muscle cramps. It is necessary to consume enough amount of electrolytes so that muscle contraction does not happen.

Why You Get Muscle Cramps?

Weakness of the muscles due to a genetically inherited condition is known as muscular dystrophy. This condition prevents the body from producing the required protein that can help in building muscles. This protein is also responsible for making the muscles strong and stable. This is most commonly seen in children who may seem clumsy as they begin to grow up and indulge in varied kinds of movements. Let us learn more about this condition and the ways in which it may be treated.

1. Symptoms: In order to better understand the ways of treating this condition, it is important to take stock of the varied signs and symptoms that are associated with the same. The main symptom of this condition includes difficulty in walking as well as constant slips and falls that may be endured by the child. Also, the children suffering from this condition will have trouble in lifting the leg and foot in a normal way.

2. Other Complications: This condition can also affect the heart and lungs by making the muscles in these regions weak. Also, this condition can lead to a number of serious breathing problems that will need immediate medical intervention so that it does not become fatal. It may also lead to accelerated heart beats and affect the hands and feet of the patient in an adverse manner. This condition can be found in different types, each of which will affect the patient in a different manner.

3. Physical and Occupational Therapy: One of the most effective ways of dealing with condition in the long run is to indulge in physical and occupational therapy. With the help of a physiotherapist and other specialists, the patient will be taught to move in a more deliberate and normal manner without falling too often. Also, the patient will be eventually trained to go about life and various functions with certain kinds of movements that will be limited to the issues that the patient may be facing. Bracing will also be required so as to help the child cope better in the physical sense.

4. Prednisone: This medicine may be prescribed by the Pediatrician to ensure that the progression of the heart issues may be slowed down. This will ensure that the heart may function in a more normal manner despite the muscle issues that it may be facing. The doctor will usually recommend that the medicine should be started when the child is around five or six years old.

5. Spinal Fusion: This surgery can lessen the pain and reduce the severity of the symptoms, which can lead to better chances of moving in a normal manner. This will also give the child better posture so that the child may breathe normally.

How Can Muscular Dystrophy Be Treated in Children?

The hand is one of the most commonly used parts of our body and is susceptible to damage, wear and tear as well as injury. Pain in the hand can be attributed to numerous causes, including damage and other conditions that can affect the joints, cartilage, nerves and other parts of the hand.

Causes

De Quervain's tendinitis: This is also known as de Quervain's tendinosis. It causes pain on the thumb side of the wrist. The pain may grow slowly or suddenly. It can also spread to every part of the thumb and up the lower arm. On the off chance that you have de Quervain's tendinitis, you may experience pain while performing the following actions:

- Clenching The fist

- Handling on or holding objects

- Turning the wrist

Treatment for this includes the following:

- Wearing a prop to rest the thumb and wrist

- Calming drugs

- Cortisone infusions

Carpal tunnel disorder: This is common amongst the well-known nerve issues. It can cause pain in the following parts of the hand:

- Palm and a few fingers

- Wrist

- Lower arm


The treatment methods includes the following:

- Resting the hand and wrist

- Painkillers

- Wrist support

- Steroid infusions

- Active recuperation

- Breaks

Fracture: It's a crack or break in a bone that can cause immense pain in the hand. Other than this, the hand may also experience the following:

- Stiffness

- Swelling

- Loss of proper motion and movement

The kind of treatment depends on the kind of fracture. Braces are usually used for small fractures. Sticks, wires, or plates might be used to treat severe fractures. Likewise, surgery may also be recommended to set the broken bone properly.

Arthritis: This is a disease causing joint inflammation and stiffness of the joints. It causes the joints to lose the ligament that permits them to move easily against each other. This tears the ligament, giving rise to crippling pain and swelling.

In the hand, the regions where this regularly happens are as follows:

- Base of the thumb

- Center joint of one or more fingers

- End joint, which is nearest to the fingertip

The treatment depends on the seriousness of the injury and the following may be used:

- Painkillers

- Props for the fingers or wrist

- Heat

- Non-intrusive treatment

Trigger finger: Also known as stenosing tenosynovitis, this defect causes the fingers or the thumb to bend. It can be difficult, particularly when bowing or fixing the influenced finger or thumb.

Knobs may form on the influenced ligaments. Also, the sheath itself may thicken. In the long run, the ligament may get to be adhered when you attempt to fix a twisted finger or thumb.

Resting now and again while wearing a support may help resolve the issue. Over-the-counter torment pharmaceuticals can facilitate the agony. Corticosteroid infusions can mitigate side effects. Surgery might be recommended for extreme cases.

Causes of Common Hand Pain and How to Find Relief

Muscle contusion is a condition that is characterized by bruising in the muscles. It generally tends to occur in athletes who play a lot of contact sports. Repetitive blows in any part of the body may cause damage to the underlying muscle tissues. These blows may lead to internal bleeding, resulting in blood clot formation. The most common site where it occurs are the quadriceps.


The various causes of this condition are:
1. Direct repetitive blows to a part of the muscle in contact sports such as football
2. If you fall on a hard surface 
3. It may also occur if the muscle comes in contact real hard with sports equipments like soccer balls

The symptoms of a muscle contusion are:
1. You may experience swelling of the muscle
2. Excessive pain
3. Decrease in range of motion in the concerned body part
4. It may lead to leaking of blood vessels
5. You may also experience hematoma where a lump is formed over the affected spot
6. Symptoms of broken bones, dislocations and fractures may also occur

Complications
This disorder may also lead to various complications such as compartment syndrome, which leads to compression of blood vessels resulting in pain. 

Treatment
The basic treatment for this condition is the rice protocol which is rest, ice, compression and elevation. You should rest the muscle, then apply ice to the affected area to reduce the pain. You can also take nsaids (non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) to reduce the pain. In severe cases, the doctor may drain the lump surgically.


It is advisable to not return to your normal sports routine in order to allow the muscle to recover. If you carry on with your regular routine, it may result in further complications like the formation of scar tissue. You may undergo various stretching exercises to relieve the pain and make a gradual return to your normal sporting activities.


Causes and Symptoms of Muscle Contusion

Torn cartilages are quite a common form of injury occurring in the human body. While one can t always be too cautious of injuries, one can still try to be conscious of their muscles and do not move about in an abrupt manner to cause injury to themselves. Further, even though torn cartilages are very common, they are quite painful and most often they occur in the knee. Here are some tips to ensure that your torn cartilage heals well and you are exposed to less pain during the healing period:

Rest: You must take rest. While it is advised to take bed rest, humanly it is impossible to spend all day in bed. Thus one can move about a little but avoid walking and straining their legs and knee too much. At times crutches can be taken while taking a few steps in the room.

Ice Therapy: Putting ice bags in the affected area helps in relaxing the muscles and reducing the pain quite a lot. Though previously people adhered to putting hot water bags, the scenario is slowly changing to ice therapy.

Compress: When you are suffering from a torn cartilage, the doctor often puts a bandage on the knee to compress the area. This is done so that the muscles are brought together and they can heal on their own with time and rest.

Elevate the Knee: Often it is seen that during such cases, the knee or the hands are rested in an elevated platform. This platform is created with the help of a pillow mostly. This lets the cartilage get time to rest and heal on its own.

Avoid Strenuous Activities: This includes jumping, running, jogging, kicking etc, when it comes to the legs and writing, lifting weight etc. when it comes to the hands. These activities require a lot of strength and power and most of all the use of the cartilages. Since the cartilages are torn and in their healing mode, it is best to avoid such activities for a certain amount of time to not put pressure on the cartilages and damage them further.

Painkillers: It has been already mentioned that the healing period can be painful. Thus, the doctor may prescribe some painkillers to ease the pain during this time.

Thus, these are some of the easiest ways to deal with a torn cartilage. The recovery period may be painful, but it happens to many people and is completely healable in nature.

How To Deal With Torn Cartilages?

From marathon runners to footballers, amongst athletes, 'pulling a hamstring' is the most common type of injury. The hamstring is a group of four muscles at the back of your thigh. When one of these muscles gets overloaded or begins to tear, it is known as a hamstring injury. While a hamstring injury is painful, it does not indicate the end of an athlete's career.

Minor hamstring injuries may heal by themselves. In cases where one of the muscles is torn, surgery is required to repair and reattach the muscles. Recovery time depends on the severity of the injury. Stretching and exercising the muscles of the leg are the most important parts of rehabilitation. The healing of a hamstring injury can be divided into four stages.

1. Acute phase: The first five days after a hamstring injury is known as the acute phase of rehabilitation. The aim of treatment at this phase is to reduce inflammation and keep the other muscles from atrophy. For minor hamstring injuries resting the leg, using ice packs and keeping the leg elevated can accelerate the healing process. Once the pain and swelling has decreased, patients can use a cane or crutch to exercise the leg.

2. Subacute phase: From the fifth day to the 3rd week after the injury, the focus of the treatment shifts from minimizing swelling to strengthening the leg and increasing the range of possible motions. At this time, an athlete can resume cardiovascular training. Swimming and other forms of aquatic training are said to be especially beneficial to the treatment of hamstring injuries.

3. Remodeling phase: The remodeling phase continues upto 6 weeks after the injury. Strengthening the leg is the focus of this stage of treatment. Using ankle weights can be beneficial towards strengthening the leg muscles. It is important to be careful about the weight being used and to gradually increase this weight to avoid an added injury.

4. Functional stage: This stage can last upto 6 months until the athlete can regain full function of his or her leg. As the athlete's gait gets back to normal, they may start jogging and short sprints. Gradually, more sport specific exercises may be added to the workout.

There is no fixed time when an athlete can return to active sports after a hamstring injury. While players with minor injuries may return to the field after 3 weeks, athletes with muscles tears may take upto 6 months to recover completely. Hamstring injuries tend to reoccur and hence before they can get back to active sports, an athlete must pass an isometric strength test and flexibility test. This ensures that there are no subtle after effects of the injury that can increase the risk of a repeat injury.

Hamstring Injury Recovery and Return to Sports

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