HWN Suggests

Heat Illness: The Only Sports Related Injury That Can Be Completely Avoided

As one of the earliest signs of heat-related illness, heat cramps should be taken very seriously. They often occur as a result of dehydration and usually affect the major muscles that are being stressed during physical activity. This includes muscle groups like the quadriceps, gastrocnemius, hamstrings, biceps, triceps, and core muscles. It is important to pay close attention to heat cramps and to not overlook the possible implications of continuing work or exercise outdoors. Heat cramps can rapidly progress to a more severe heat illness if warning signs are ignored.

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 Muscle Cramping In the Heat

“Heat cramps” are the most severe form of a condition doctors call exercise-associated muscle cramping (EAMC). They are marked by acute pain, stiffness and visible bulging or knotting of muscle among athletes training intensely amid growing dehydration on hot days. Cramping from fatigue alone tends to be milder, briefer and limited to one area of the body.

 What are heat cramps? How to treat muscle spasms from exercise in extreme heat

To treat heat cramps and prevent dangerous heat-related illnesses, it's important to drink lots of water, replenish electrolytes, stop your exercise, and cool yourself down by getting into shade or air conditioning.

Articles of Interest

An Evidence-Based Review of the Pathophysiology, Treatment, and Prevention of Exercise-Associated Muscle Cramps

Although the pathophysiology of EAMCs appears controversial, recent evidence suggests that EAMCs are due to a confluence of unique intrinsic and extrinsic factors rather than a singular cause.

Does pickle juice relieve muscle cramps?

Research, however, demonstrates that when most individuals are cramping, blood levels of electrolytes, as well as hydration levels are normal. So what really causes exercise-associated muscle cramps?

Heat cramps

Take action if you develop cramps during or after being in the heat. Cramping is one of the first stages of heat illness.

Heat Cramps in Sports

Heat cramps were described as early as 1878 in men working in extreme heat in gold mines in Nevada. The term is still used today to describe the severe, spreading, sustained, sharply painful muscle contractions that can sideline athletes. It seems to describe the extreme end of the spectrum of exercise-associated muscle cramps...

How Athletes Can Prevent Muscle Cramps

Despite scientists’ and physicians’ abilities to answer some of the most complex medical conundrums, the cause of muscle cramping is still frustratingly elusive.

How to Get Rid of Heat Cramps and Prevent them

Heat cramps are not restricted to athletes, and people who are at greater risk include seniors, infants, and children. City dwellers and those without access to adequate water or shelter are also at risk. Heat cramps can sometimes be the precursor of a more serious condition. Severe heat cramps that are not treated properly may lead to heat exhaustion or even heat stroke. Hot temperatures and humidity can cause a significant increase in body temperature that puts stress on the body's ability to cool itself through sweat.

Too Hot to Handle

Painful muscle cramps in the legs, arms or abdomen, known as heat cramps, may be the first sign of a serious heat-related illness and can be a symptom of heat exhaustion or heat stroke. Heat cramps occur most often after exercise in hot environments. People are likely to sweat more than usual in the heat, which can worsen dehydration and salt depletion.

Resources

Korey Stringer Institute

The mechanism of heat cramps is unknown but they can be caused by dehydration or lack of adequate electrolytes in the diet. Although muscle cramping is not a cause of sudden death, it can be confused with a more serious condition, exertional sickling (cramps with no palpable muscle contraction). Heat cramps are painful involuntary cramping often in the legs, arms, or abdomen with muscle contraction that can easily felt.

Sport Med School

isotonic electrolyte solution is preferable over hypotonic free water given that a large water bolus may worsen the athlete’s salt deficiency thus precipitating further cramping and other more concerning manifestations of hyponatremia. Commercially available sports drinks are effective in this regard.