Causes of muscle cramps in elderly -
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Condition Basics What are muscle cramps? What causes them? Muscle cramps may be brought on by many conditions or activities, such as: Exercising, injury, or overuse of muscles. Cramps may occur because of decreased amounts of minerals, such as calcium and magnesium, especially in the later months of pregnancy.
Exposure to cold temperatures, especially to cold water. Other medical conditions, such as blood flow problems peripheral arterial disease , kidney disease, thyroid disease, and multiple sclerosis.
Standing on a hard surface for a long time, sitting for a long time, or putting your legs in awkward positions while you sleep. Not having enough potassium, calcium, and other minerals in your blood. Being dehydrated, which means that your body has lost too much fluid.
Taking certain medicines, such as antipsychotics, birth control pills, diuretics, and steroids. How are muscle cramps treated? How can you care for yourself? Here are some things you can try: Stretch and massage the muscle. Take a warm shower or bath to relax the muscle.
A heating pad placed on the muscle can also help. Try using an ice or cold pack. Always keep a cloth between your skin and the ice pack. Take an over-the-counter pain medicine, such as acetaminophen Tylenol , ibuprofen Advil, Motrin , or naproxen Aleve. Be safe with medicines. Read and follow all instructions on the label.
If your doctor prescribes medicines for muscle cramps, take them exactly as prescribed. Call your doctor if you have any problems with your medicine. Drink plenty of fluids. Sports drinks, such as Gatorade, will often help leg cramps. Here are some things you can try for a leg cramp: Walk around, or jiggle your leg.
Stretch your calf muscles. You can do this stretch while you sit or stand: While sitting, straighten your leg and flex your foot up toward your knee. It may help to place a rolled towel under the ball of your foot and, while holding the towel at both ends, gently pull the towel toward you while keeping your knee straight.
While standing about 0. Keep the knee of the affected leg straight and the heel on the ground. Do this while you bend the knee of the other leg. If you think a medicine is causing muscle cramps: Before you take another dose, call the doctor who prescribed the medicine.
The medicine may need to be stopped or changed, or the dose may need to be adjusted. If you are taking any medicine not prescribed by a doctor, stop taking it. Talk to your doctor if you think you need to continue taking the medicine.
How can you prevent them? These tips may help prevent muscle cramps: Drink plenty of water and other fluids. Limit or avoid drinks with alcohol. Make sure you are eating healthy foods especially if you are pregnant that are rich in calcium, potassium, and magnesium.
Ride a bike or stationary bike to condition and stretch your muscles. Stretch your muscles every day, especially before and after exercise and at bedtime. Don't suddenly increase the amount of exercise you get.
Increase your exercise a little each week. Take a daily multivitamin supplement. Related Information Restless Legs Syndrome. Credits Current as of: November 9, Current as of: November 9, Calf Stretch Stretches. About This Page General Feedback Email Link Physical Activity Services We appreciate your feedback.
Feedback Regarding:. Your name:. Your email:. Do you want a reply? But it's not known if there's a direct link. Restless legs syndrome is sometimes confused with night leg cramps. But the conditions are different. The most common symptom of restless legs syndrome is the need to move the legs when falling asleep.
Restless legs syndrome is usually not painful, and the symptoms last longer than do night leg cramps. Causes shown here are commonly associated with this symptom.
Work with your doctor or other health care professional for an accurate diagnosis. There is a problem with information submitted for this request. Sign up for free and stay up to date on research advancements, health tips, current health topics, and expertise on managing health.
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Request Appointment. Symptoms Night leg cramps. Sections Basics Definition Causes When to see a doctor. Definition Causes When to see a doctor. Products and services. Causes By Mayo Clinic Staff. Thank you for subscribing!
Sorry something went wrong with your subscription Please, try again in a couple of minutes Retry. Show references Winkelman JW. Nocturnal leg cramps. Accessed Nov. Merck Manual Professional Version.
Delacour C, et al. Association between physical activity and nocturnal leg cramps in patients over 60 years old: A case-control study. Scientific Reports. Mayo Clinic Press Check out these best-sellers and special offers on books and newsletters from Mayo Clinic Press.
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A muscle ceamps is a hyperexcitable neurologic crampz of Causes of muscle cramps in elderly, involuntary muscle contractions. The origin and propagation of neurogenic muscle cramps localizes to peripheral and central targets Cases 1 ekderly, including the neuromuscular junction, where nuscle disruption Caudes electrolyte disturbances can influence hyperexcitability and cramp generation. Injury to peripheral nerve components Inn the motor All-natural fitness supplements cell bodies or the motor axons can result in ephaptic transmission and development of muscle cramps. Dysfunctional intramuscular small fiber sensory afferents eg, mechanoreceptors and spindles are also proposed to be involved in cramp generation. The pathophysiology of myogenic muscle cramps, in contrast, is usually the result of disrupted energy production in muscle cells and occurs most commonly in metabolic myopathies associated with disorders of glycogen, lipid, or mitochondrial metabolism. The metabolic defect may also cause accumulation of potentially toxic metabolites that further aggravate ATP deficientcy. Myopathic cramps are also a potential symptom of myopathies linked to muscle membrane or intramuscular structural dysfunction in acquired and hereditary myopathies eg, muscular dystrophy, congenital myopathies, and inflammatory myopathy.Causes of muscle cramps in elderly -
Although the mechanism for this association is unclear, it could result from a combination of spinal or cortical dysfunction, deconditioning, increased age, or medications.
The most common disorders of lipid metabolism are carnitine deficiency and CPT 2 deficiency, in which symptoms manifest with prolonged exercise usually after 45 minutes. Investigation can be directed when muscle cramps are particularly bothersome, severe, or frequent.
A practical approach is to consider first whether cramps are neurogenic or myogenic. Nerve conduction studies and needle EMG can be helpful in differentiating neurogenic from myogenic cramps.
Serum creatine kinase CK levels may also be helpful as CK is often elevated over, IU per L in myopathy; however, it should be noted that CK can also be elevated, particularly mildly elevated, in neurogenic processes and situations in which cramps are common see also HyperCKemia in this issue.
Evaluation should be directed toward potential etiology. Spinal MRI should be ordered if cervical or lumbosacral radiculopathy is suspected. Reccomended laboratory tests include a complete blood count CBC , creatinine and urea, liver enzymes, albumin, extended electrolytes, serum B-vitamin levels including B 12 and B 6 levels, 2-hour glucose tolerance test, hemoglobin A1C, thyroid-stimulating hormone TSH , and serum protein electrophoresis.
If immune motor neuropathy is suspected, antiganglioside GM1 antibody testing should be done. For myogenic cramps, investigations should be tailored to diagnose underlying metabolic myopathies.
Forearm ischemic exercise testing can be used to diagnose disorders of glycolysis. The normal result is elevated lactate and ammonia times baseline levels. In contrast, in myoadenylate deaminase deficiency, lactate levels rise, but ammonia levels do not. When neither ammonia nor lactate levels increase, the test is inconclusive and indicates muscles were not adequately exercised.
In myopathies due to lipid metabolism disorders, forearm ischemic exercise testing results are normal. If lipid metabolism disorder is suspected, order genetic testing for CPT2 deficiency, and if negative, again consider muscle biopsy with metabolic assay.
If cramps are found to be an isolated finding not associated with any identifiable neurogenic, myogenic, or metabolic source, they can be labelled as idiopathic and treated as such. There is no evidence that recurrent muscle cramps lead to significant long-lasting damage to muscles, and serious harm from muscle cramps eg, tendon ruptures is rare.
If treatment is needed, the avoidance of the offending agent or appropriate electrolyte and vitamin replacement to treat the root cause are warranted. There is level B evidence that vitamin B-complex supplementation can reduce cramp frequency in people who experience at least 6 cramps per week.
This also includes cannabinoids, where the limited high-quality evidence available to date has not shown a clear treatment effect.
In individuals with prominent dehydration eg, athletes, malnourished individuals, or members of vulnerable populations , care must be taken to ensure adequate electrolyte-rich solutions, particularly high-salt formulations.
In pregnant women, there is ample evidence that magnesium replacement is helpful in managing muscle cramps. People with dialysis disequilibrium syndrome during hemodialysis usually have improvement in muscle cramps when dialysates and dialysis rates are adjusted to prevent fluid shifts. If cramps remain frequent, severe, and disabling, pharmacologic prescription level intervention should be considered Table 2.
Given a current lack of a validated and comprehensive cramp scale, the prescribing clinician and patient are encouraged to choose a clear goal in mind when considering treatment eg, cramp frequency or intensity reduction until more comprehensive and validated outcome measures become available.
Quinine sulphate is the most studied medication for treatment of muscle cramps. Although there is level 1 evidence that quinine may be effective for treating muscle cramps, there are concerns about hematologic and cardiac adverse effects, including thrombocytopenia and QT prolongation in addition to visual disturbances and cinchonism.
Quinine, however, is still prescribed with special precautions in some parts of the world. In 2 independent studies in this population, safety and efficacy for reducing severity and frequency of muscle cramps was seen, which offers an alternative for those with ALS or other neuromuscular conditions with prominent muscle cramps.
Mexiletine is also proven effective for treating nondystrophic myotonia. As such, these can be tried in individuals with muscle cramps and coexisting neuropathic pain; however, if there is no effect on muscle cramps once the maximal effective dose for pain is reached, add-on medications for the cramps should be considered.
Cramps are an under-recognized treatable painful symptom that affects a large number of people across normal physiologic and neuromuscular, neurologic, and medical disease states. Clinical judgement should be used to fully evaluate possible treatable causes. A rational treatment plan includes pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic options.
Additional research into a reliable and validated outcome measure and new treatments for muscle cramps are areas of unmet need. Jansen PH, Gabreels FJ, van Engelen BG. Diagnosis and differential diagnosis of muscle cramps: a clinical approach.
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Osteochondritis Dissecans of a Joint Back to Work? Acute Kidney Injury Versus Chronic Kidney Disease Nephrotic Syndrome Uremia Kidney Stones: Should I Have Lithotripsy to Break Up the Stone? It is easy to self-diagnose muscle spasms and cramps. The most important sign is intense pain caused by the extreme tightening of the muscle.
The pain is localized at the site of the muscle. There may be tenderness on touching the muscle with ones hands. There always is the sensation of a tense or tight muscle that feels very hard compared to other relaxed muscles.
The spasm may last only a few seconds or up to 15 minutes. The longer the cramp lasts the more likely the muscle will be sore for a prolonged period after the acute pain has subsided. Or, there can be cramps in leg muscles that make walking or running difficult.
The most common site of a cramp as we age is in the calf. Cramps occur commonly, it is estimated that 60 percent of adults have cramps from time to time.
The frequency increases as we age. Women suffer more than men with nighttime cramps. In addition to age, there are a number of risk factors that often are associated with muscle cramping. These include medications, dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, certain diseases, and exercise.
Medications that are known to produce cramps include drugs to treat the following conditions:. There are a host of other drugs that also are reported to cause cramps and if you start taking a new medicine and start having more cramps, call your physician to report this.
Cramps are associated with physical exertion. Even the best conditioned athletes can be brought to their knees and removed from competition because of cramps.
Back to Health A to Z. Leg Alcohol moderation strategies are e,derly, usually harmless, and cranps Fats and exercise performance a short time. They can happen at elderpy time, but most people have them at night or when resting. Leg cramps happen when a muscle in the leg tightens and causes a sudden pain that can make it hard to move. After the cramp has stopped, the muscle might feel sore for up to 24 hours.
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