Hi @dingyibvs ,
I notice with myself that my cramps come from heavy exertion over long time in the day... so if I ball real hard 3+ hours on one day or three days in a row... I will get cramps anytime at evening or worse, like you after I am in bed and slept a little.
NO FUN to wake up with severe cramp that gets worse and also spreads to another muscle when you try to get up !! Sometimes it is a calf cramp and I get up and now severe hamstring or quad cramp.
Drinking a lot of water seems to flush my minerals out of body and the key one I am short is Magnesium. A big meal can also deplete my mineral stores... so a day or three of long TT with much water followed by big sit down meal is a bad combo for cramps.
When I am in big multi day tourneys, I space out doses of magnesium throughout match day and drink one .5 l bottle of water with a pack of fizzy vita C powder (also has baking soda in it) for every 2 .5l bottles I drink and I seem to maitain well.
My problems happen when I am not in a big tourney and it is easy to not pay attention to the body.
When I do get cramps, I take several tablets of Magnesium - Calcium - Zinc - Vita D... USALLY relief within minutes.
I have also seen some say even sniffing or ingesting some apple cider vinegar works too... the study said it affects a region of the brain that tells body to stop the cramp.
This article suggests otherwise.BTW: I am not against the placebo effect and I am not against using something that works for you no matter how it works. But the story that muscle cramps are the result of electrolyte (mineral) depletion (sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium and manganese), scientific studies show those are not the cause of the muslce cramping. But adding the electrolytes back into your system (because they do get depleted during daily life and especially during exercise), is always good for you.
Physical exhaustion which could be because of extended periods of exertion, not enough sleep, or a combination of those and other factors, is shown to be the primary cause of muscle cramping.
As Der_Echte said, when you are really tired, they will happen while you are sleeping as well. If you get a real, full night of sleep, they will likely not happen during the first part of your day.
This article suggests otherwise.
Water intake after dehydration makes muscles more susceptible to cramp but electrolytes reverse that effect
No previous study has compared water and oral rehydration solution (ORS) intake after dehydration induced by exercise in the heat for the effect on muscle cramps. The present study tested the hypothesis that water ingestion after dehydration would increase ...www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
The cause for muscle cramps is likely multifactorial, but it appears likely that electrolyte loss through sweating followed by rehydration and thus dilution of intravascular electrolytes is contributory. This theory makes sense on a couple of practical levels as well. For one, it's known that hyponatremia and hypomagnesemia can cause cramping. We don't lose a lot of magnesium in sweat, so I do suspect that sodium plays a bigger role. For two, two of my cramps were on my left upper and lower intercostal muscles. Being a right hander with a lot of footwork and body usage, those were among the least fatigued muscles on my body, suggesting something other than muscle fatigue is at play.
There's more to learn about this of course. In another study, while electrolyte solution was superior to water, a lot of participants still developed cramps despite receiving repletion equivalent to losses.Yeah. I have seen a lot of research that suggest that. And then, a lot that suggests that no conclusions can be drawn. I would have to find the sources for what I said and I am lazy. But the best research on the subject I have seen is that there is no conclusive evidence that the electrolyte theory is correct. I believed it for years. I am not so sure any more.
There's more to learn about this of course. In another study, while electrolyte solution was superior to water, a lot of participants still developed cramps despite receiving repletion equivalent to losses.
The study above did cite multiple other studies, and they've done a more exhaustive literature search than I have obviously, so I do believe the when they say that the particular circumstance they investigated has not been sufficiently explored.
There appears to be many reasons why cramps happen, sometimes it can be an underlying issue like nerves, pinching a nerve or sciatica. A minor case of sciatica could result in a muscle cramp without any noticeable pain at the point of the slightly trapped nerve.And the studies I saw, that led me to the simplified statement....I am not sure if they were saying that electrolyte replacement would take too long to effect cramping during an event. But it sounded like the conclusions were that it is not entirely clear that the depletion of electrolytes were the actual cause of the cramping. That some people are more prone to cramping than others. And that, when someone is sleep deprived or physically exhausted for some other reason, cramping is exponentially more likely whether there has been electrolyte depletion or not.
However, regardless of the cause of cramping or the people who are more or less likely to cramp up in their day or while playing TT, if you are electrolyte depleted, it makes sense to put them back into your system.
When I saw the comparison of studies on the subject, it was a few years ago and I am just a little to lazy to go look for it. But the information the guy gave comparing studies was pretty interesting.
SadnessSuxs man! Today an old timer serve a half long to my BH corner and I attempted a topspin open up on his serve and my rubber hit the edge of the table.View attachment 28711View attachment 28712View attachment 28713
😭😭😭
That's completely normal, don't baby him! Now hitting your wrist on the table or breaking your blade, that is sadnessSadness
I used to pop salt tabs before playing soccer. thanks for the friendly reminder to start adding this to my TT routine. I thankfully do not really suffer cramps but the salt tabs do help with the hydration and feeling good a lot.Light salt water will help during play.
Cause I also play soccer at my young age.I used to pop salt tabs before playing soccer. thanks for the friendly reminder to start adding this to my TT routine. I thankfully do not really suffer cramps but the salt tabs do help with the hydration and feeling good a lot.
Seems like a perfect time to switch to anti....Suxs man! Today an old timer serve a half long to my BH corner and I attempted a topspin open up on his serve and my rubber hit the edge of the table.View attachment 28711View attachment 28712View attachment 28713
😭😭😭
Divine intervention?Seems like a perfect time to switch to anti....
The good news here is that the damaged part of the rubber is nowhere near where you should be hitting the ball. So this should have zero impact on your play using that rubber. Ignore it.Suxs man! Today an old timer serve a half long to my BH corner and I attempted a topspin open up on his serve and my rubber hit the edge of the table.View attachment 28711View attachment 28712View attachment 28713
😭😭😭