Sleep and Nocturnal Leg Cramps

Nocturnal leg cramps.

Up to 60 percent of adults report that they have had nocturnal leg cramps. The recurrent, painful tightening usually occurs in the calf muscles and can cause severe insomnia. The exact mechanism is unknown, but the cramps are probably caused by muscle fatigue and nerve dysfunction rather than electrolyte or other abnormalities. Nocturnal leg cramps are associated with vascular disease, lumbar c...

Nocturnal leg cramps in older people.

Nocturnal leg cramps are common in older people. Such cramps are associated with many common diseases and medications. Physiological methods may be useful for preventing cramps in some people, but there have been no controlled trials of these approaches. Quinine is moderately effective in preventing nocturnal leg cramps. However, there are concerns about the risk/benefit ratio with this drug. I...

Criteria in diagnosing nocturnal leg cramps: a systematic review

BACKGROUND Up to 33% of the general population over 50 years of age are affected by nocturnal leg cramps. Currently there are no generally accepted clinical characteristics, which identify nocturnal leg cramps. This study aims to identify these clinical characteristics and to differentiate between them and the characteristics of restless leg syndrome and periodic limb disorder. METHOD A syste...

Quinine: not a safe drug for treating nocturnal leg cramps.

An effective stretching regimen to prevent nocturnal leg cramps.

Last year we published a randomised trial demonstrating that stretching before sleep reduces the frequency and severity of nocturnal leg cramps in older adults (Hallegraeff et al 2012). The results of that study align perfectly with the uncontrolled study of Daniell (1979). In a recent letter to this journal, Daniell and Pentrack (2013) proposed an alternative stretching procedure for preventin...