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Lead Stories: Friday, August 29, 2008

Coping With Muscle Cramps

Posted October 18th, 2007 at 8:44 AM by Katie Drummond

Section: Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab, Exercise

running cramp muscle injuryWhat are Muscle Cramps?

Cramps are defined as involuntary, forced and prolonged contraction of a part of a muscle, a whole muscle or group of muscles. Compared to spasm, cramps are more forceful and sustained. The usual mechanism of muscles is to alternately contract and relax to facilitate movement. Those muscles that are involved in gross or fine motor movements are mostly voluntary, which means that they move at will.

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Q & A: Can sports drinks cause stomach cramping?

Posted March 7th, 2007 at 9:00 AM by Hariz Siddiqui

Section: Nutrition, Hydration

sports-drinks-athlete.jpgA study from the Netherlands shows that sugar in sports drinks slows absorption and increases stomach cramping in running races shorter than 12 miles.

Fluids pass through your stomach and are absorbed almost immediately in your intestines. Exercise slows fluid passage from the stomach but does not affect intestinal absorption. Sugar added to drinks can delay stomach emptying to increase risk for cramps.

Another study from the University of Utah, reported in the same journal, shows that taking a salty drink just before exercise increases endurance. Dehydration is the most common cause of fatigue during exercise in fit men and women. This study used salted drinks or placebo (unsalted) drinks with two groups of cyclists, and demonstrated a significant improvement in an endurance time trial as well as better maintenance of blood volume in the group that had the salted drinks.
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