Loading...Q. I must share a remedy I have used for years for nighttime leg cramps. There is no prescription, no side effects, and it is simple and readily available.
Just pinch the bridge of the nose (pretty hard) for 5 to 10 seconds. You can feel the cramp dissolve. It has never failed me and I love telling others about it and seeing their pain relieved. I hope you won’t discount this treatment as “silly.” Leg and foot cramps can be seriously painful, and this technique really works.
A. This is a variant on another technique readers have shared. Here is one account: “For about 15 years, I suffered agonizing leg cramps, usually at night. I couldn’t sleep and would almost panic at the thought of having one.
“Taking quinine helped, but it caused ringing in my ears. One day I read an article about Frank Broyles. When he was coaching at Arkansas, he told players with leg cramps to pinch the upper lip right beneath the nose and hold it until the cramps eased. I thought this sounded odd, but I tried it.
“When the cramps started, I pinched my upper lip and the cramps gradually went away. I don’t how or why it works, I just know it did for me.”
Leslie
WNY
Pickle juice, tsp. of mustard, pinching bridge of nose or lip are all great natural ways to stop the awful leg cramps. Bar of soap in the bed works but not very convenient during the day (only in bed at night).
John
Princeton, New Jersey
As a dancer, cramps are both painful and debilitating. Since my entire back was involved, nothing would work; the pain would just move from one muscle group to the other. Then, I discovered that you can make your own liniment, and add these ingredients to make it super effective; methyl salycilate (aspirin), menthol, crystal capsicum, and DMSO. Any carrier oil is good, but castor makes for beautiful skin and hair, and palm oil is cheap. Anyway, This can’t be applied with the hands, but if you pour a cup on a rubber sheet or tarp, and lie down in it, you will feel great in a few minutes. The effect lasts for days and can be repeated every week. T
Michael
Elanora 4221 Qld
Hi,
I suffer with server cramps, a nurse told me to put a small amount of caster sugar under my tongue, and let it dissolve…….worked every time…..hope it helps someone else……Mike
Joel
Atlanta, GA
I ran track and cross country back in high school and cramps were always notorious for everyone on the team, especially the distance runners. These are the kind of leg cramps that made me afraid to fall asleep after a heavy practice because I knew that more than likely I’d wake in the middle of the night in excruciating pain.
Our coach first taught us the technique of pinching our bottom lips as hard as we could and the cramps would ease off quickly. We all thought he was crazy but I tried it one night and have pinched my bottom lip ever since when I get a leg cramp. It absolutely works!
dbrown1947
I have few remedies I use depending on what I have available. Dill pickle juice or tonic water as it has quinine in it. Tonic water is convenient by the bed at night. Turmeric is also known to stop the cramp. So I mix my shot of Apple Cider Vinegar with “mother” (unpasteurized) with a little water, honey and a dash of turmeric. Works for me! Still trying to figure out what causes them. They can be HORRIFIC at times.
Linda F.
I’ve never heard anyone else talk about this remedy, but I take about a teaspoon of sugar when I get leg cramps and it stops them immediately. You can feel the sugar flowing through your veins to the cramp. I keep little packets of sugar on my bedside table. Some sugar candies work just as well, such as a few jelly beans.
ESK
I’ve only known about the upper lip pinch remedy and have used successfully it for many years but now I will go for the bridge of the nose version (less painful I imagine and it seemed to cause a blister or cold sore on my lip!)
Ruth J.
Thanks Mick. Thought I must be an odd one, since eating chips is a common suggestion for the relief of leg cramps. If I eat too many, I am in trouble!I also got tiny herbal quinine pills that dissolve under the tongue, which provide fast relief, and are such a low dosage, they do not mess with my medications. Ruth J.
Ned T.
I used to have nocturnal leg cramps several times a week. I have not had any at all since I started taking L-arginine capsules. They are available over the counter in the supplement section of most stores near the pharmacy section.
I find that I only need to take one 500mg capsule per day to keep my leg cramps under control. You should consult your doctor before taking L-arginine or any other supplement to make sure it is not contra-indicated for any medical conditions that you might have.
DJT
I will remember this info about pinching my nose next time I get a bad leg cramp in the middle of the night that causes me to spring out of bed in pain. Sometimes mine are so bad I can’t stand up or walk while it is cramping and laying in bed is out of the question during a cramp. I got them twice a much and twice as bad right before I found out I was diabetic. Thank you for this great information on leg cramps, I will try it.
MARY D
Simple…a bar of soap, any kind.
If you get nighttime leg cramps, put a bar of soap under the sheet where your legs lie. Or, put a small bar in the leg of one, or both socks.
Having a cramp? Rub a bar of soap on the cramp.
Do you get cramps in the day, keep a small bar of soap in your sock(s).
This also helps for Restless Leg Syndrome. Safer than pills.
lee w.
It didn’t work for me.
JG
I have tried the upper lip pinching and I must say that it does help to some extent; however, each time I tried it I got a Hematoma on my lip. I will try pinching the upper part of my nose. The soap also works. I don’t get as many cramps at night. I bought your soap and because it’s flat it sits into the areas of the mattress that have a groove. How long does the soap last?
Christy
I’ve used the ‘pinch between the nose and the upper lip’ many times and it worked every time. Only took about 3 seconds of hard pinching.
STEVE
I voted yes on thumbs up, but I would really like to hear or see a survey if possible of responses from people who have tried this from the aspect of yes it did help or no it did not help. [ Either way of course I will be trying it with my next leg cramp. I certainly hope it helps ].
Wanda R.
I remember reading an article about tennis champ, Chris Evret and she mentioned that she pinched her upper lip when she got a cramp. Totally forgot it and now I LOVE sleeping with my bar of Ivory under the sheet. As soon as the bar in the bathroom is running down I know it’s time to put a fresh bar under the sheet and start using the old one in the bathroom. It’s worked now for several years and it’s also stopped my restless legs from walking all over the place. Thanks for all your wonderful books, articles and radio shows.
Jh
Although I’ve posted my long-term success at doing ALL the things in Joe & Teri’s down-loadable cramps protocol, especially calcium and magnesium supplements and sodium reduction, I neglected to post what I learned from my coach as a young endurance athlete, and it works 100% of the time to immediately alleviate the cramp: Stretch the cramped muscle.
Unfortunately this usually involves getting out of bed, and the cramp may return when I stop the stretch. Nonetheless, the horrible pain is always immediately relieved. Attempts to stretch the muscle in bed usually just created a cramp in an opposing muscle, but being forced out of bed isn’t all bad. It forces me to get vertical and move around, which always causes the session of cramps to back off. It’s a challenge to the ingenuity to invent a stretch that gets to some of the minor leg/foot muscles, but I’ve always managed.
10 yrs ago, when I allowed myself to become seriously cal/mag deficient, I’d often awake with 5 or 6 simultaneous leg cramps. Now, thanks to Joe & Terriy’s protocol, I get one once a month, and it just serves to remind me that I’ve been careless around magnesium. (Other people’s individual biochemistry may certainly vary.)
Jim
Mick
It took me a long while but I figured out that it was potato chips that caused my cramps. I used to eat them in the huge bags. Corn chips are no problem.
Mick