Take some salt and ease the pain, so the story goes, but as I will explain there is a much simpler, salt-free solution.Ĭramp occurs most often in the calf muscle at the back of the lower leg, the hamstrings at the back of the thigh or the quadriceps at the front. The cause of this common affliction has often been ascribed to low salt levels in your diet, or more precisely the sodium that is in salt. It occurs more frequently as people get older or if they put on weight, but it can happen to anyone, either during the night or after exercise.
This type of cramp is very common, particularly in the late stages of pregnancy. What you have is cramp, or charley horse as it is also known in North America.
You try to force your leg to relax without success, and you know you are in for a sleepless night. Your calf muscle seems to have a life of its own and is in spasm, causing an agonising pain down the back of your lower leg. You wake up in the middle of the night in agony.
