Cramp is the so-called muscle spasm. Despite the continuous progress of modern science, the real cause of spasm caused by exercise is still unclear. However, this is a runner's worst nightmare: you are running a marathon, and your calf suddenly tightens and aches, or you collapse to the ground because of muscle cramps in other parts. What causes running cramps? The fact is that we don't know much about this sudden muscle weakness. Even Gabe Mirkin, a famous American sports doctor, said, "No one knows what caused the convulsion. However, scholars all over the world have published many studies, conducted in-depth experimental investigations on this issue and put forward some possible theories.

Running is most afraid of sudden cramps. ? Sportlife.es dehydration and electrolyte loss lead to spasm? Perhaps not for many years, people think that muscle spasms are caused by salt and mineral deficiency, dehydration or excessive external temperature. However, more and more studies have found that there is no absolute correlation between the intake of water or minerals and the spasm caused by exercise. Timothy Noakes, a famous sports scientist at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, published a research paper in 2004, which showed that their muscle sampling survey of athletes with and without spasms found that there was not much difference in the composition of water or sodium. "Although the lack of certain minerals and dehydration may lead to spasms has become the mainstream, according to many studies we have done, the results cannot prove that these phenomena are the causes of spasms during exercise. Dr Martin Schwellnus, from the Institute of Sports Medicine and Lifestyle of Pulito University, said that he had conducted a series of studies on muscle spasms in the 1990s. Salt loss and dehydration will certainly lead to physical problems and spasms during exercise, but there is no direct evidence that it will lead to spasms in the calf or other parts caused by running. Chris haney Shi, an assistant professor in the Department of Health and Human Sports Performance in virginia commonwealth university, said that for some reasons, the loss of water or salt is related to spasms, but the correlation is not equal to causality. Don't confuse the real cause of things with other unimportant factors.

Running sweating causes cramps? ? Muscle fatigue may be the main cause of cramps. With more and more research on cramps, the mainstream inference is that cramps are caused by muscle fatigue and abnormal nerve signal transmission. Basically, when you are doing running training, your muscles are contracting all the time, and then you gradually feel tired. Then, when the brain sends a message of stretching to the calf muscles, it keeps contracting. This "short circuit" phenomenon can lead to cramps. According to the paper published by Dr. Xuernus in 1997 in Sports Science, cramp is the result of reflex control of motor nerve dysfunction caused by fatigue. It is pointed out that muscle contraction is initiated by nerves, which are called motor neurons, and one of them, α motor neurons, is responsible for receiving the demand of conscious movement from the brain. On the other hand, Golgi tendon organ is a kind of receptor which is particularly sensitive to the random contraction of muscle tension to prevent excessive contraction of muscle. Muscle fatigue will lead to the injury of muscle spindle and the decrease of Golgi tendon receptor activity. However, the activity of α motor neurons will be enhanced because the brain constantly demands to accelerate muscle operation, which will lead to sudden involuntary contraction of muscles and spasm. "The best explanation for muscle fatigue, muscle spasm and injury mechanism is the imbalance of muscle nerve control system. Dr. Xuernus said, "Muscles often become very tense when they are tired or injured. "When you are in a bad state in the competition or you have to work harder to improve your performance, your muscles must work harder at this time, so your body is more prone to cramps.

Muscle fatigue may be the main cause of cramps. ? Livestrong knowledge post-it notes | Anatomical nouns of muscle spindles. Stored in muscle, it is about 10mm long and looks like a shuttle, so it is called a muscle shuttle. Muscle spindle plays the role of radar antenna in muscle. There are sensory nerves in the middle of the muscle spindle and G motor nerves at both ends that dominate the movement of the muscle spindle. When the muscle stretches, the sensory receptors hovering on it transmit the stretching of the muscle to the central nervous system such as spinal cord and brain, thus regulating the contraction force of the muscle. Under normal circumstances, this adjustment is done unconsciously and automatically.