Foot and calf cramps during exercise?

[OrangeBanana]

How do I stop this from happening? 

I drank tons of water today, ate a banana and I have great shoes. 

It happens mostly when I do workout videos, like T25, that require lots of jumping stuff. Sometimes when I run it happens but I find it occurs mostly when I am not paying attention to my form and not using my quads as much as I should. 

I'm currently rolling my feet on cold cans of beer and it feels really good

Do you think I would benefit from one of those roller bars and use it on my calves to loosen them up after working out? Any other suggestions?

 

[runblondie26]

I had problems specifically with calf cramping over the years and the main culprit was wearing shoes that weren't supportive enough.

But staying well hydrated will help with general cramping and foam rolling/stretching is good for muscle health too.

[hannahb]

If you have shoes that are minimilist, the low heel drop puts more strain on your calf muscles and feet. That may be the issue.

[OrangeBanana]

I wanted to say it is my shoes too because that's just easy to fix but I really don't think it is. I have flat feet so I knew it was important to be fitted and wear a good shoe and so I did that. I really think I might be heading to a sports therapist or something soon if I can't figure this out on my own.

[Brit]

I am watching this thread. My H's right calf always cramps up. He did a treadmill video gait analysis and got put in support shoes (Brooks Adrenalines), but he still has a wacky gait. I'm curious what other suggestions come up.

[runblondie26]

Apr 1, 2014 11:16:43 GMT -5 Brit said:

I am watching this thread. My H's right calf always cramps up. He did a treadmill video gait analysis and got put in support shoes (Brooks Adrenalines), but he still has a wacky gait. I'm curious what other suggestions come up.

In the past, the PT also recommened doing hip/glute strengthing exercises, and did some trigger point needling and ultrsound to loosen up the knotted muscle.

I'm pretty sure that's what my treatment is going to entail at my appointment tomorrow since I've been having issues with the cramping again. I've been *pretty good* about doing some of the exercises, but obviously my hips/glutes are still pretty weak.

I'll report back.

[runblondie26]

Brit  Your DH is probably looking for any solution he can get, so just throwing this out there in case it might help. 

I had my PT appoinment yesterday, and she was telling me that once a muscle is knotted up, it's hard to get it to fully release again on it's own. I'm assuming you wouldn't have access to someone who could do trigger point needle therapy in Dubai, but your DH might want to try getting a deep-tissue massage and do some trigger point masssage on his own. 

Also, he might want to try different shoes if he's still having a problem. Even though I'd been wearing a shoe labeled "Stability" (Brooks Ravenna 5), my PT didn't think it had enough support for me. She put a stamp of approval on the new Saucony Guides I bought over the weekend though. Doing a side by side, you can feel a big difference between the two, despite both being in the "stability" category.

Surprisingly, I did well on the hip/glute strength tests. I doubt that would be a factor for your DH anyway, since weak hips/glutes are usually a female issue. The above two items are probably the key.