Muscle Spasm Relief

Everyone’s had muscle spasms of some type, whether mild or a more severe muscle spasm, and it’s the most common back pain cause.  We have muscle groups throughout our bodies, and wherever we have a muscle we can have a muscle spasm.  The most common muscle spasms are in the back, neck, legs, shoulders and feet, although they can happen in any of the muscle regions.

Muscle spasms are sudden involuntary contractions of muscles or group of muscles known as involuntary muscle spasms.  They’re usually more mild and last just a few minutes, but severe muscle spasms can last longer, be very painful, and cause more serious issues like torn ligaments or tendons.

Pain is usually the first sign of a spasm which is known as a spasmodic muscle contraction.  Muscle pain spasms are usually caused by inflammation or irritation of a muscle or group of muscles caused by a sprain, strain, tear or over-stretching.  There are a few things you can do to stop muscle spasm causes, and knowing how to reduce or avoid them is the first step.

Muscle Pain Treatment

• The best muscle pain treatment is to keep your muscles hydrated and well nourished.  Drink plenty of fluids, particularly water which is the system’s most balanced form of hydration.  A good diet helps nourish your muscles, because muscle spasms are usually caused by a mineral imbalance like a lack of calcium, potassium or magnesium.  Take vitamin and mineral supplements daily to help avoid this.  Dairy products also provide calcium and magnesium.

• Good posture will help reduce spasms and pain.  Incorrect posture causes muscle strain which can cause muscle spasms.  If we have pain, we compensate for it by sitting, standing or moving differently to avoid the pain, but this causes more muscle strain which can trigger muscle pain, cramping and spasms.

• I’ve written about it before, but bananas are a great source of potassium, and I eat bananas whenever I’ve had charley horses. They help a lot and quickly.  Other good natural sources include nuts and seeds, squash, cherries, oranges, apples, peaches, grapefruit, plums, pears, bran and healthy bran cereal, beans, pasta, rice, corn and lemonade.

• Stretching and exercise is very important in reducing muscle stress and spasms.  They help keep your muscles flexible and elastic, helping to prevent injuries, cramps and spasms.

• Try to keep emotional and psychological stress to a minimum.  Things like anxiety, tension, panic, frustration and anger cause emotional distress which causes tension, and your body’s muscles tense up.

Muscle Spasms Treatment

Besides the above tips, muscle spasms treatment includes several other things you can do to reduce and stop muscle spasms, and I’ll review a few of them.

• Over the counter pain medicine, anti inflammatories, topical ointments and creams are most commonly used for muscle spasms treatment.  If you have a severe or chronic condition, you may need a prescription pain medicine.

• Ice, heat and rest are also routinely  used, but don’t rest more than two days, because muscles start to atrophy (weaken from lack of use).

• TENS System (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation).  Tens units use a low voltage electrical current to induce pain relief by blocking pain signals.  Pain signals travel along small nerve fibers, and the electrode transmits electrical current along these fibers, preventing the pain signals from reaching the brain.

I got  a TENS unit after a car accident several years ago and still use it periodically. It’s been a savior for me, and I’d recommend it to anyone needing relief from chronic muscle spasms and pain. This TENS system is now available without a prescription, which I think is great and about time.  It comes with a belt, but you can use it with or without the belt.

• There’s a variety of massage therapy aids that are very helpful in eliminating muscle spasms, relieving tension, reducing body and muscle aches, and help increase circulation to speed pain relief and healing. They also improve muscle tone.

• Acupuncture and Chiropractic care are also very helpful.

• There are botox injections for muscle spasms treatment, but I would try other methods before resorting to this if possible.

A lot of these treatments will provide muscle spasm relief whether mild, moderate or severe including what one of my visitors were searching for, “severe spasm below left shoulder blade”.  They will help muscle pain treatment for most, if not all types of muscle spasms.  You need to do what you can to naturally relieve spasms including maintaining good nutrition and diet, keeping yourself hydrated, exercise and stretching, good posture, and keeping stress levels down.  However, there are additional pain and muscle spasms treatments available to help you get on the fast track to being pain free.

I hope this article helps you find the muscle spasm relief you need.  If you have any questions, please let me know, as I’m personally  familiar with this issue.  Thanks!

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Causes of Muscle Spasms

This article will discuss the various types and causes of muscle spasms, back pain symptoms, lower back pain remedies, treatment and prevention, and touch on back pain medicine and some of the best back pain relief products available today.

To understand the causes of muscle spasms, you need to understand how muscles work.  Whenever you move, various muscles in your body will contract or expand.  When muscles involuntarily contract, this is called spasms or involuntary muscle spasms.

Involuntary Muscle Spasms

Though it’s more common to have muscle spasms in our back, neck, calves or feet, every muscle in our body is subject to muscle spasms.   Muscle spasms are the most common reason for back pain cause.  These muscle spasms usually happen from muscle fatigue, sudden or continued over-exertion such as exercise or sports activities; using the muscles for things they’re not conditioned for, including lifting heavy or bulky items, or simply moving your body at an awkward angle.  It can be a side effect of certain medications, and sometimes an electrolyte imbalance or neurological disorder such as a stroke, trauma, spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis can trigger it. Some symptoms of muscle spasms may be a burning back pain or sudden back pain.  Generally, to help relieve the causes of muscle spasms, the best thing to do is to gradually and slowly stretch, such as muscle stretching exercises.

I’ll outline some of the back pain symptoms and remedies below.

Back Pain Symptom

  1. Muscle trauma is an extreme stress on the muscles that causes mild to severe spasms or cramps. The area can become inflamed, red or swollen.  You might feel a sudden “pull” or hear a snapping sound when this happens.  Slow muscle stretching exercises, moving and walking around will help this.

   2. Dehydration is a major contributor to lower back muscle spasms.  Loss of sodium due to dehydration causes limb and abdominal cramps or spasms.  If you drink a good deal of water and increase salts, it will reduce the spasms quite a bit.

   3. A poor supply of oxygen to the muscles is one of the main reasons behind spasms or cramps.  You can treat it by breathing slowly and deeply.  A gentle massage and slow stretching can also be effective.  Poor blood circulation is an example of a poor supply of oxygen to the muscles, and you need to get the blood circulating, getting the oxygen to the muscles.

   4. Night spasms or “Charley Horses” usually occur in your legs, calves or feet at night or when you’re resting.  They can be fairly painful if you’re also dehydrated.  It’s usually caused by sitting too long, or low potassium, magnesium, calcium or sodium.  Bananas and some other fruits are a great source of potassium, and help my Charley Horses.

   5. Menstruation is another cause of muscle spasms in the abdomen, sometimes referred to as stomach back pain.  The best treatment for menstrual cramps or spasms is using heat, an appropriate pain reliever/anti-inflammatory such as ibuprophen or Motrin if approved by your doctor, and doing slow stretches.  Pregnancy and back pain are also a very common combination.

   6. Tension causes your entire body to tense up.  Try to stay calm and relaxed with slow breathing, meditation, visualization, or doing something you enjoy that will relax you.

   7. An electrolyte deficiency is another big cause of muscle spasms, which is a deficiency of potassium (Hypokalemia) or calcium (Hypocalemia).  If you supplement your diet with calcium and potassium, this will relieve it.

   8. A deficiency of vitamins like Thiamine (B1), Pantothenic Acid (B5) and Pyridoxine (B6) will cause muscle spasms.  Vitamin and mineral supplements will help your overall health as well as reducing the causes of muscle spasms.

Lower Back Pain Remedy or General Muscle Remedy

    * If you stretch and condition properly before any strenuous activity or activity your body’s not accustomed to, and warm up and cool down, you’ll greatly reduce the chances of muscle spasms

    * Stay hydrated with plenty of water.  Water helps ‘lubricate’ your muscles and organs, and is vital for proper functioning of your entire system.  Also be sure to replace electrolytes lost during strenuous activity or sports

    * Avoid excessive fatigue.  This not only helps your muscles, but your emotional, mental and physical health

    * Take vitamin and mineral supplements to not only reduce muscle spasms, but to maintain overall health

    * Take breaks during increased activity, stretch and relax your muscles

    * Observe ergonomics such as table height, chair position, foot support, etc. (see more details at the Stop Back Pain Cause Now page)

    * Avoid high heeled footwear.  This puts a tremendous strain on your back and entire body.  Your body’s not in its proper position with high heels.  They push your weight forward, throwing your posture, spine and hips out of whack, and are very bad for your feet

These are some of the main things you can do to relieve muscle spasms as well as help sciatic nerve relief, and there’s more helpful information about this in this blog.  There are also several types of back pain medicine you can take, which I’ve included in other posts.  There are a few high quality back pain relief products I can highly recommend including Back Soothe Wellness Oil (Wonderful), a TENS system that you no longer need a prescription for (I have one and it’s really helped me over the years), as well as different supports and exercisers, inversion table, the best back supplements, and Back Relax and Pain Free HP back pain products.

I hope this article’s been helpful.  Let me know if you have a specific question or issue.  I’d be happy to respond or find the answer for you.  Good luck, and let me know how you do!

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Causes of Muscle Spasms

The causes of muscle spasms vary, but the results are the same.  Muscles spasms or muscle cramps is the stiffening shortening feeling you get with a sudden contraction of the muscles.  This can be cured easily and effectively with simple treatments you can do with little to no cost, and can help right away.

Your muscles are responsible for your body movements.  They contract and lengthen when your brain sends a signal to the muscles when moving.  Things like moving suddenly, at a bad angle, lifting awkwardly or bulky, heavy items, or strenous activity like sports are big causes of muscle spasms.  A lot of times, muscle spasms are caused by simple muscle fatigue or non-use.  Sometimes, nerve damage can result in “contracture”, which is a permanent shortening of the muscle. 

I’ll review some of the causes of muscle spasms, and treatments you can do easily and quickly to get rid of your back pain symptom and involuntary muscle spasms, such as muscle stretching exercises, low back pain exercises, back pain medications, and back pain relief products to help you get on your way to recovery immediately.

Some of the main causes of muscle spasms are:

1.  Dehydration is probably the biggest cause of muscle cramps, which can also cause a loss of sodium.  If you drink plenty of water, it will elasticize your muscles and reduce cramping.  Increasing salts can also help.

2.  A poor supply of oxygen to the muscles is also a big cause of muscle spasms or cramps.  This can be treated with deep and slow breathing, and a gentle massage or slow stretching can also be very effective.

3. An electrolyte depletion is a lack of potassium and calcium.  You can overcome this by taking calcium and potassium supplements.

4. Menstruation is one of the big causes of muscle cramps in varying degress.  You can relieve this by using heat such as heating pads, stretching, and pain relievers or anti-inflammatories such as Motrin, Aleve, Ibuprophen, etc., as well as some other back pain relief products.

5. Nocturnal Spasms are muscle cramps that you get at night, such as a “Charley Horse” in your calves or feet.  They can be very painful if you’re also dehydrated and/or you have low levels of things like calcium, potassium, magnesium, sodium, or sit too long.  Bananas are a great source of potassium.  When I eat more bananas, my muscle cramps go away.

6.  Muscle trauma is an excessive strain on the muscles, which can cause mild to several muscle cramps.  It becomes inflamed, swollen, or red.  Sometimes you’ll hear a ‘snapping’ sound when this happens.  Slow muscle stretching exercises and low back pain exercises are very useful for relieving this right away. 

Whatever your causes of muscle spasms are, it’s important that you take all the preventive measures you can to alleviate them, including:  slow, deep breaths, drinking more water, taking supplements, applying heat, muscle stretching exercises or massage, taking anti-inflammatories / back pain medications, and recommended back pain relief products you may need to help reduce or remove your back pain cause.  As always, I encourage you to see your physician for any chronic back pain symptoms.

There are some very helpful back pain relief products and providers I can recommend that have great results, guarantees, and customer service.  Some of these are:

Nature’s Inventory

Core Health Home Solutions

Fitness Equipment for a Healthy Life

Healthier You

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Lower Back Muscle Spasms

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Millions of people suffer from lower back muscle spasms every year. Back muscle spasms can occur from poor posture, strenuous activity, or lifting heavy objects.  You can feel your lower back muscles stiffen or contract, and lower back muscle pain will follow.  This is when you normally find out you’ve strained your back. 

This article discusses some of the causes, simple and natural remedies, and back pain relief products you can use right away to relieve your lower back muscle pain.

Causes of Muscle Spasms

There are many symptoms for your back pain cause. They’re involuntary muscle spasms that can be caused by lack of conditioning, low levels of nutrients or supplements, fatigue, over-use or mis-use, or lack of stretching and flexibility in the muscles.  It can occur during pregnancy, or even as a side effect of certain medications.  You’ll notice that if your body is not at a correct angle when doing something, it can trigger a muscle spasm.  One of the easiest and best solutions to avoid or minimize them is by stretching; keeping your back muscles loose and flexible.  A back muscle massage is also a great help.  Other possible causes of lower back muscle spasms can include neurological, nerve damage, stroke, a trauma, spinal cord injury, and even multiple sclerosis.

Low Electrolytes – Potassium or Calcium deficiency.  The best way to ensure you have proper levels of all vitamins and minerals is by taking nutritional supplements specific to your needs.  Foods that are natural in these are also great supplements.  Bananas, for example, are a great source of potassium.

Dehydration is a big cause of muscle spasms.  Always drink plenty of water to keep your entire body hydrated and healthier.

Menstruation or Pregnancy and Back Pain.  If you are pregnant or menstruating, you’re very likely to have increased muscle spasms due to the hormonal imbalance in your body; and if pregnant, the fetus is absorbing a great deal of the nutrients your system needs.  During these times, it’s critical that you take additional supplements specific to your condition, and your diet also plays a big part.

You can get temporary relief by using a heating pad, massage, stretching, and taking appropriate over the counter back pain medicine such as Motrin, Ibuprophen, Tylenol, etc. Always consult with your doctor before taking anything while you are pregnant.  There are a lot of quality back pain products available to help reduce and eliminate the cause of your back pain. 

There are also simple muscle stretching exercises and low back pain exercises you can do that will help alleviate the muscle spasms.  You can see these on the Back Strengthening Exercises page.

Although there are a lot of causes of lower back muscle spasms, there are also a lot of simple and natural relievers such as proper diet and supplements, drinking plenty of water to keep your muscles hydrated, muscle stretching exercises, massage, using a heating pad, and safe pain relievers.  Don’t distress!  If you’re proactive, you will see a difference. :}

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