cramping

Discussion in 'Injuries' started by kwun, Nov 22, 2002.

  1. kwun

    kwun Administrator

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2002
    Messages:
    41,043
    Likes Received:
    2,066
    Occupation:
    BC Janitor
    Location:
    Santa Clara, CA, USA
    i posted an article in FAQ about cramping. even though cramping isn't badminton specific, i think it is a good general info to know.

    i believe the key to relieve cramping is to stretch the piece of muscles. and i think a lot of people don't know that.

    http://www.badmintonforum.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7926
     
  2. TOmike

    TOmike Regular Member

    Joined:
    Sep 29, 2002
    Messages:
    498
    Likes Received:
    2
    Occupation:
    Student
    Location:
    Toronto
    very informative, thanks! i just had a cramp today on my calf which lasted around 5 seconds because i immediately forced my leg to straighten out with foot fully on the ground. i just held it there and it stopped, although it is still a little sore. is ther any way to cease the sore pain? and, are u more susceptible to cramps after an initial cramp on the same day?
     
  3. F-Man

    F-Man Regular Member

    Joined:
    May 29, 2002
    Messages:
    176
    Likes Received:
    0
    Occupation:
    Student
    Location:
    Scotland
    Hi guys. From a medical point of view, cramping is due to an excessive loss of sodium and potassium from the body. In other words, salt. Thererfore, if you would like to reduce the chance of getting cramp in the first place, I would suggest that you must drink water regularly during every session of badminton that you play. On top of that, you may also wish to take a little more salt than normal during the meal before your session, preferably a couple of hours before so that the salt has been properly absobed in your system. Hope this helps.
     
  4. bigredlemon

    bigredlemon Regular Member

    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2002
    Messages:
    2,096
    Likes Received:
    4
    Location:
    T.O.
    Drinking extra water actually LOWERS the salt in you by:
    - diluting your blood salt level
    - promote sweating, which is the faster way to lose salt

    Eating more salt won't help as it contains only sodium, and the salt level must be balanced by an increase in potassium or else the sodium is simply expelled next time you visit the washroom.

    If salt balance does cause cramps, then eating a banana will help more than anything else i can think of. That's why so many people eat bananas before tournaments i guess!

    Personally, i only get cramps when i'm cold or if i overworked my muscle (mountain biking for more than 7 hours, i always get cramps)
     
  5. kwun

    kwun Administrator

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2002
    Messages:
    41,043
    Likes Received:
    2,066
    Occupation:
    BC Janitor
    Location:
    Santa Clara, CA, USA
    cyclists often eat bananas to replace potassium. however, that doens't work too well for me as banana often causes digestive problems, which is a bad thing when i am 50miles away from home on a bicycle...
     
  6. jwu

    jwu Regular Member

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2002
    Messages:
    808
    Likes Received:
    2
    Occupation:
    Medical Research
    Location:
    boston, ma, US
    there are bushes everywhere kwun. :D
     
  7. Xuser

    Xuser Regular Member

    Joined:
    May 1, 2002
    Messages:
    295
    Likes Received:
    0
    Occupation:
    Computer Network Analyst
    Location:
    Canada
    Yes, I have seen many players eat bananas in tournaments. I personally eat them as well as drink Boost, which gives me energy. In most tournaments I've been, the organizers like to serve pizzas which I find very filling and dehydrating.
     
  8. Aleik

    Aleik Regular Member

    Joined:
    Feb 8, 2003
    Messages:
    222
    Likes Received:
    0
    Occupation:
    Let's not get encumbered by detail...(is the taxma
    Location:
    U.K.
    I went on holiday to Greece and drank a lot of water...more than I normally do. I got a cramp for the first time in my life in my sleep for no reason at all, and then AGAIN a week later in my sleep! weird. any thoughts?

    sorry if this seems a completely random post.

    Aleik.
     
  9. Nanashi

    Nanashi Regular Member

    Joined:
    Apr 25, 2002
    Messages:
    649
    Likes Received:
    0
    Occupation:
    Student
    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario

    this has happened to me once.... i find that the cramps i get in my sleep are a helluva lot more painful than the ones i get from playing.....


    as for me, whenever i cramp and my coach is around, she usually puts this oily cream on the part cramping while uh...."massaging" (if you count her squeezing it til i am practically screaming) the part cramping.... usually helps...
     
  10. ruth1

    ruth1 Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jul 23, 2003
    Messages:
    189
    Likes Received:
    0
    Occupation:
    Student Athlete
    Location:
    USA
    does anyone know if cramping is common among elite international players? The article said that cramping can be due to not being properly conditioned. So does that imply that the international players rarely get them?

    Also, this may be a little off subject but we were talking about getting cramps in the middle of the night. That's never happened to me but i have muscle spasms after playing a tough tournament. It happens when I'm about to fall asleep. All of a sudden my arms goes up as if I was serving backhand or my leg twitches as if it's about to react to a shuttle. It happens just as I feel I'm drifting off. I was wondering if this happens to anyone else.
     
  11. Joanne

    Joanne Regular Member

    Joined:
    Aug 2, 2002
    Messages:
    1,338
    Likes Received:
    0
    Occupation:
    Getting thrashed on court.
    Location:
    Petaling Jaya, S'gor, M'sia
    I sometimes get cramps... and most of the time when I'm sleeping. I'll just get up and like, AHHHH!!! Never got one during badminton though. I always make sure I warm up properly, especially my legs. :)

    Do I stop sleeping? :D
     
  12. LazyBuddy

    LazyBuddy Regular Member

    Joined:
    May 20, 2002
    Messages:
    10,096
    Likes Received:
    15
    Occupation:
    Engineer
    Location:
    New York, US

    I think proper warm up can only reduce the chance of cramping, but can't totally avoid it. Therefore, it's not very rare to see international elite players went down due to cramping.

    In the recent WC, I think I knew several cases already, such as Tsueng Seng, etc. In the past, Sun Jun was famous once due to a hard fight, and match ended in a really bad cramping.
     

Share This Page