I find our current explanations for muscle cramps incomplete.
Typical ideas like dehydration, fatigue, low electrolytes, poor conditioning always made sense on the surface, but never felt specific enough.
Each of these are global issues - things that affect the whole body.
To me, these never explained why one calf muscle wanted to cramp and not the other, or adjacent muscles.
So I did a deep dive with my patients that mentioned cramping as a symptom.
And over the result? Back dysfunction.
Clinically, cramping is yet another symptom closely impacted by segmental spinal level dysfunction - and by freeing up these restricted/overloaded areas, we can consistently see a resolution.
The key here is to hunt around the level that houses the nerve that supplies the cramping muscle in question. For example, calf cramps relate more to the lower back thanks to the sciatic nerve. Similarly, the base of the neck relates more to forearm muscle that cramp, etc.
If we can dial into these spinal levels more closely, it doesn’t eliminate the role of electrolytes and hydration altogether - they may still have an impact, but it helps us better understand what those global issues might be exposing.
Your Wellness Nerd
I find our current explanations for muscle cramps incomplete.
Typical ideas like dehydration, fatigue, low electrolytes, poor conditioning always made sense on the surface, but never felt specific enough.
Each of these are global issues - things that affect the whole body.
To me, these never explained why one calf muscle wanted to cramp and not the other, or adjacent muscles.
So I did a deep dive with my patients that mentioned cramping as a symptom.
And over the result? Back dysfunction.
Clinically, cramping is yet another symptom closely impacted by segmental spinal level dysfunction - and by freeing up these restricted/overloaded areas, we can consistently see a resolution.
The key here is to hunt around the level that houses the nerve that supplies the cramping muscle in question. For example, calf cramps relate more to the lower back thanks to the sciatic nerve. Similarly, the base of the neck relates more to forearm muscle that cramp, etc.
If we can dial into these spinal levels more closely, it doesn’t eliminate the role of electrolytes and hydration altogether - they may still have an impact, but it helps us better understand what those global issues might be exposing.
Thoughts?
- Grant
1 week ago | [YT] | 22