– Today I'm talking about
foot and leg cramps. So, down here, through the
calf muscle, through the arch. This happens lot. A study said that up to
60% of adults can get this and almost 10% of kids. So there's a lot of different causes. I'm going to tell you why it's happening and the absolute best ways
to solve it starting now. (gentle music) Guys, thank you so much
for watching this video. We appreciate your likes,
your subscribes, your comment. We really love hearing
if this stuff helps. It really makes a big difference for us. So, thank you. I've got you to 11 causes here. There's 11 different
things that happen here. Some of them are dangerous, some of them are very easily correctable. That's the beauty of cramps. There's a lot of different causes. Cramps and spasms can
really hurt in the arch, in the calf muscle. This can make your muscle
bend, stay contracted, cause a lot of pain.
There's a lot of causes and we're going to show you
how to fix these problems so this pain goes away for you. The one most dangerous
thing is vascular disease. Diabetes, blood clots. If you have severe calf pain, there's one way to check this. If you squeeze the calf muscle, that's called a Homan sign if it hurts. That might mean that you have a blood clot that can make your legs have problems. This is very common if you've
had a history of blood clots, if you have a family history
of blood clots, if you smoke, if you've got prior heart
problems, blood flow problems.
This you have to check
out with your doctor. You know, if your toes
are really throbbing, if you have crippling
pain, get to your doctor, get checked out. This is for the unhealthy people though that have a lot of health problems. If you're a young 20-year-old kid, highly, highly unlikely, although nothing's ever
guaranteed in medicine, for sure. So be safe. Another common thing is nerve disease. So, peripheral neuropathy
in both feet really ache, really bad at night, and
nothing gets it better.
This is diabetes, this
is smoking, alcoholism, getting up there in age. If you're 70, 80 years
old and this is happening, this could be nerve problems. Again, you have to get
checked out by your doctor. But again, if you're a
healthy 20, 30 year old, highly, highly unlikely unless you've got serious health issues. But always get checked out if worried. If you're pregnant, this isn't
everybody so I'll be quick, if you're pregnant, in the
second and the third trimester, this is very common. Doctors can't really agree on why. But a lot of these other
tips will help with that. So I'm going to skip the pregnancy. Excessive alcohol. So, alcohol can cause
alcoholic neuropathy. This could cause nerve pain. This could cause blood sugar issues. This could cause you to be in poor health. This could cause you to
interpret pain very poorly or have trouble sleeping. So, if you're drinking a lot of alcohol, this is the second most
common cause of nerve damage that I see behind diabetes,
severe alcoholism. So if you're too much and you
have some health problems, that's probably why you're
getting a lot of cramps and spasms.
Nutrient deficiencies,
especially as you get older. The big ones are vitamin B as in boy. So, a lot of studies, and I present on this at conferences, is vitamin B supplements can
really help with nerve pain. So, you don't have to go crazy and buy those expensive nerve supplements. Generally, those are not proven. So I'll say this again. Don't spend crazy money
on the nerve supplements. They're not always very well-proven unless your doctor tells you to take them. but even a daily multivitamin, make sure you're getting
your basic B vitamins. That can really make a big difference. Studies have shown that
that does help with cramps and spasms at night. This includes vitamin
B, magnesium, folate. Dehydration is another one. Drinking water. You know, I always remember
it was eight glasses of water, but a lot of studies now are saying 10, 15 cups a day is what people need. Obviously smaller people on the lower end. Bigger people may need up to 15, especially if you're a
hardworking person in the sun, outdoors, make sure you're well hydrated. This is probably the
biggest one that I see.
Check out all the muscles down here. In your arch, your calf muscles. Why is it your feet? Because they are the hardest
working muscles during the day. Every step you take is
all of your body weight with momentum. This is what's called delayed
onset muscle soreness. So what happens is while
you're doing the activity like standing all day, it's not bad, but when you're in bed at night, the blood flow slows down. And this fills up in your muscles and it stretches your nerves. And your nerves spasm. That's a huge cause of cramps.
To me, that's the most practical reason. So if you're on hard
surfaces, on concrete, if you're walking all day
in a trade or a teacher or a nurse, this is
probably the cause for you. When this hits you in
the middle of the night, just get up out of bed,
start rotating your ankle. So do little circles. Get
your plantar fascia mobilized. Get your calf muscle mobilized. And what you can do is
you can grab a towel if you can't reach your toes.
If you can reach your toes,
just push on your toes. But if you need a towel,
grab a bath towel, push on your calf muscle, your foot. In the middle of the night
or while you're on the couch. This will stretch those tissues. It will get that fluid out of there that's stretching those
nerves and causing that spasm. 90% of the time, this
will get it feeling better and massage your plantar fascia. Massage your calf muscles,
massage your heel, whatever spasming. Just get in there, get in there with your
hands and massage it and you'll start to feel better. I love to use gravity whenever I stretch. So right here, getting that towel underneath
your toes keeps it, giving it a little bit more of a stretch.
Really targets that calf muscle. Really targets that hamstring. As you get that inflammatory
sore fluid out of there, those nerves can relax because there's less
swelling in the muscle. And get the hamstrings,
get the groin muscles, get the glutes. All of that contributes, especially if you have
sciatica or hamstring tightness or calf tightness, do it all. So what happens is how do you solve these? This is very, very correctable. Number one, you want a good
supportive pair of shoes. That's the single best thing you can do. You want a good pair of shoes? So, look at this. I can't bend this shoe. It's got a stiff heel. Look at how thick it is right here. That's a lot of foam cushion. For some people that's not enough. Look at this shoe. This is even thicker. This is the Maxi Miller shoe. So some people need all that support. If you got huge cramps, rather
than going to extreme routes, and I mean anything past
taking a daily multivitamin, consider a good supportive pair of shoes. Look at how supportive this is.
And rather than jamming into the front, look at how these roll. So this has a rocker bottom
plus it's very well cushioned. Look at a regular shoe like this. It's flimsy. That's not supporting you. There's nothing in the back
and look at when you walk, it doesn't really roll. Whereas look at this one, it rolls across, plus it's super well cushioned. Plus it's got a supportive back. That's how you stop the
muscles from getting damaged, nerves getting damaged,
blood flow, swelling. That delayed onset muscle soreness is what causes your cramps and spasms in most cases I find. That's why kids don't get it as much.
Kids don't get it as much,
teenagers don't get it as much because they're light. Usually they're under 100 pounds whereas most adults are
rarely under 100 pounds. Plus adults work harder than kids. Kids stay at home all
day playing video games. The next thing is even beyond
the shoes, check this out. When you walk, look at how
much your arch flattens out.
Look at how much your ankle can bend. But watch this. An orthotic like this,
I'm pushing down, look it. It's not flattening out. That arch is not flattening out. Whereas without it, look at
how much it flattens out. Whereas right here, look it.
Nothing's flattening out. That stops your muscles from overexerting, it makes the hard floor softer.
And that gets you feeling better. So that will stop a lot of that soreness. But one day won't do it. Sometimes you need to do this for a week or two weeks for all that
swelling to come down and for you to feel better. If you're wearing a good shoe
like this from nine to five but then you go home and
you're back walking barefoot, you're not really going to get better. That's where people suffer, especially before they go to bed at night. Check out these. A good pair of slippers
with an insert in there. That can really help. Or even a pair of Crocs. Even though they're not that
good, they're not perfect, they're 10 times better
than walking barefoot.
Because your foot is better supported. So come on. An over-the-counter orthotic like this, it's 20 bucks or so. A pair of Crocs, 20 bucks or so. You don't have to spend a ton of money, and that could solve a lot of
people's cramps in the morning or night and get you sleeping better. Speaking of which, not getting enough sleep can
cause more nerve problems. But if you're having cramps,
you can't sleep well. So it's a vicious cycle. If you're not taking care of your feet, you're not sleeping as much and you're feeling the pain more. What's another thing? Check out this. I love Biofreeze. So, icing your feet can help. Using Biofreeze. This is a roll on. It's kind of like icy hot.
So, rolling this on the
bottom can really help before you go to sleep. That can keep that swelling down. That does a pretty good job. I love the Biofreeze as a remedy that takes great care of things. Foot massagers. Getting your feet massage. There's a lot of great products out there that can massage your feet and get that swelling out of
there before you go to sleep. So massage before you go to bed. Great massaging can be an ice
bottle, a frozen ice ball. Use stuff that you have in your house. A water bottle like this can
really help if you freeze it.
Simply freezing will help
numb the nerves in your foot. That will prevent spasms, and the massage aspect will
get that inflammatory fluid out of the bottom of your foot. It'll make you feel better, it'll make you less likely
to have nerve spasms, less likely to have pain in the future. These ice balls are pretty
good for the muscles. They're tough for the
foot because look it, they're not really heavy, they're not grounded like an ice bottle, but they're great if you
have calf muscle cramps.
They're great for your
thighs, for your chest, for your arms. These massage balls, they
don't ice, but they're cheap. They're readily available. You don't have to worry
about freezing them. And those rubber nubs are really good at digging into your fascia and getting rid of that
inflammatory fluid. That right there is going to
give you a few hours of relief, especially if you're having pain at night. Just make sure it's not one of
those blood clot type causes because this is more for muscular pain. And massage roller stick.
I love these things. And foam rollers. These things can be five to
10 bucks online on sale now. They're a little bit more on average, but listen, for your lower
back, for your glutes, for your hamstrings, I love
foam rolling like this. For some people, it's a little bit harder to foam roll because they're not as flexible. That's where the stick can come in. But get all that fluid
out of your hamstrings, out of your glute. I have a lot of sciatica pain,
and this keeps me limber, keeps me flexible, keeps
my sciatica from hurting, especially when I sit at
home doing my medical charts pretty much all day long.
And for the lower leg, I love
the massage roller stick. This gets a lot of the
swelling, a lot of the pain, out of the calf, out of the
side of the peroneal tendons, the gastrocnemius muscle. So just doing this like 30 seconds. And on the front, just make sure not to press on your bone. That might hurt. But your anterior muscle groups. Listen, this isn't going
to make you heal quicker, but it does loosen you up
so that you can then stretch so that your cramps go away
for at least the night time. So look at that. That's a full massage routine I just did in 30 seconds
to about 60 seconds. My glutes, my hamstrings,
my thighs, my calf muscles, and now my plantar fascia. What more can you ask for? That's really loose.
Inactivity. So that's another one. If you're not moving
very much during the day, your legs will swell up. Walking a little bit can make
a huge difference for you. So, get up, move around. Sometimes you can ride a stationary bike before you go to bed or
walk around a little bit. If you're sitting in a
computer chair all day, you are going to swell, you're going to pinch certain nerves. That's another point.
Stationary positions. If you're in a computer chair all day, get up once every hour. Walk around for five minutes. Make sure that blood's flowing. Make sure your muscles are moving. A big deal is now people
stay in that home. Their legs will cramp
and spasm and hurt more because they're getting sciatica, they're sitting on their butt all day, their hamstrings hurt,
their lower back hurts.
Get up, move around,
try different positions, get special pillows to sit on your butt so those nerves aren't
getting pinched day after day. It's not a permanent problem, but if you're doing the
same stuff every day, it will cause the same pain every day. And finally, sleep position. If you're sleeping on your arm, if you're sleeping on your
left hip or right hip, keep that in mind. Maybe you want to get a special
pillow between your legs. Maybe you want to pad
underneath your feet. Maybe you want a pillow under your armpit. I know I have to do
this to help my shoulder because I have a shoulder injury because I sleep on one side,
which has always my right side.
And what happens is, get a pillow. Test different strategies out. Try different products online. If it's your hip or if it's
your calf or if it's your arm, these things padded and
you will feel better. You want to massage and
you want to stretch. So massaging and stretching will take a lot of
pressure off your calves, your hamstrings. So before you go to bed at
night, massage, stretch. This makes a huge difference. But when you wake up in
the middle of the night, when you're on the
couch, just grab a towel, warm up, massage it, but then stretch, getting down to your feet. So stretching out your
hamstrings, your calf muscles, because you can get spasms
in your hamstrings too.
But take a towel if you
can't reach your toes and take it around your foot, and this will stretch
out your arch muscles and your calf muscles. This will get all of those feeling better. So your arch, your calf muscles, and just hold it for like 10 seconds. So, right here, I'm just counting to 10. It's really getting that
stretch out of there. What this does is it gets
that fluid out of your muscles and gently relaxes them so those nerves aren't as overworked. These devices can work great. I love an ankle slant board. Realistically, if you're
going to use gravity, I do this every morning and again on my exercise bike, and I gradually move through the levels. And what I mean by that is like month one, I'll start at five to 10 degrees, and then you could see here, this is after two to three months. You could really move up there. And look at how much flexibility I got. I can get way past my
toes with my ankle bent. And it moves from about 10
degrees to about 45, 50 degrees. You could see, I've gotten a
lot of use out of this board.
My kids, they've spilled the
milk and ton of stuff on here. So it gets pretty dirty.
That's how much I use it. This half-moon device right here, it can really hurt your toes. So, I don't do it barefoot. See, I'm putting an orthotic in my shoe, kind of how I showed
earlier in my demonstration. That can really help the calf muscle because these stretch boards
and these half-moon devices, realistically, they're not
very fun if you're barefoot.
They hurt your bones, they
bruise the bottom of your foot, but see, a device like this could really target your calf muscle. Is it worth it? I don't think it is. Realistically, if you're
going to buy something online, if you had the money, go for the ankle slant board right here. Do both feet at the same time. Just lean down into it. Pick this part of your morning routine and it'll make your
hamstrings more flexible, it'll make your calf
muscles more flexible. And every day as you wear
good shoes, good orthotics, you're going to have a lot
less impact on your muscles, you're going to have a
lot less inflammation, your muscles should ideally spasm less. If you're in that majority,
like 80 to 90% group. Guys, thank you so much
for watching this video. We appreciate your likes, your
subscribes, your comments. We really love hearing
if this stuff helps. It really makes a big difference
for us.
So, thank you..
