Cramp in the water

Cramping in the water is the biggest fear of any bather. This is especially dangerous if a cramp has overtaken you far from the coast, then fear and panic are added to the pain. Even an experienced swimmer can get confused in such a situation, and an unprepared person can even go to the bottom.

What is a spasm

A cramp is a spasm, a sudden, involuntary and very painful contraction of a muscle (or several). Most often, a cramp reduces the calf muscles, and can reduce the foot or thigh muscles. At the same time, a person feels acute pain and petrification of the muscle, reduced by spasm. Unpleasant sensations can last up to several minutes, after which they gradually disappear. There can be several reasons for the occurrence of cramps in the water: overwork (during long swims), hypothermia (as a result, vasoconstriction), muscle or ligament injury, dehydration, potassium deficiency in the body, magnesium and calcium. Stress, illness (especially diseases of the spine, blood vessels), poor health can also cause convulsions. Often, leg cramps can occur in people suffering from osteochondrosis, in which blood circulation to the muscles is disturbed.

What to do if your leg is cramped in the water

First of all, you need to calm down. If you panic, you will run out of steam faster and go to the bottom. You need to try to relax as much as possible, lie down on the water, and then start loudly calling for help. If possible, try to grab onto something – a snag, a log, a boat, an oar, a life buoy. If you are far from the shore and there is no one around, try one of the methods of dealing with cramps.

Prick with a pin

How often do we hear advice from the older generation – when you go swimming, take a pin with you. It turned out that this advice is not devoid of common sense. A pin prick in a spasmodic muscle will help restore blood circulation and relieve spasm. Another thing is that when a person is in severe pain, cannot swim and is seized with panic, he is unlikely to be able to carefully unfasten the pin, accurately aim and prick in the muscle so that the cramp goes away. But in emergency situations, all methods are good, so a pin (preferably English) will not be superfluous with you. If you have to use this method, remember – you need to prick sharply and strongly in the place where the muscle is most tense.

What if you don’t have a pin? Then you can try to sharply press on the sore spot with your thumb several times, the more it hurts, the faster the cramp will go away.

bite my lip

A slightly strange and unusual way to relieve a cramp, but if there is no pin at hand, then you can sharply and strongly bite your lip, on which there are many pain points. For example, by clamping the middle part of the upper lip with your teeth, you can relieve tension in the upper body, biting the lower lip – we will relax the lower body.

Massage a spasmodic muscle

The most effective way to get rid of cramps is to massage the spasmed muscle. They need to be massaged with force, pressing and rubbing with your fingers with all your might. Try lying on your back in the water or assuming a float position, then grab your toes with your hand and pull them towards you. If your thigh muscles are cramped, try wrapping your hand around your leg on the outside just below the shin, at the very ankle. Then bend your leg at the knee and pull your arm hard back towards your back.

– When swimming, it is not recommended to swim far from the shore and swim alone. First aid for seizures – information that every person should have. First of all, you need to calm down and try to stay in the water, turning over on your back. The basic principle of getting rid of cramps is stretching and relaxing the affected muscles. If one of the elements of the bathing suit is a pin or other sharp object, gently prick the spasmodic muscle. This rule works both on water and on land. Further, pulling the heel forward, pull the toes towards you, while massaging the calf muscle. Remain in this position until the cramp disappears. Thus, if the victim is provided with qualified assistance in time and correctly, he can endure the convulsive syndrome without much harm to health, – explains a neurologist, a well-respected doctor of the Republic of Uzbekistan Rizida Gufranova.

Seizure prevention at home

To avoid such a nuisance as leg cramps in the water, before swimming or swimming, it is better to warm up well: running in place, lifting and bending the legs, squats. It will not be superfluous to rub and stretch the calf and thigh muscles well in advance to improve blood flow. Then even bathing in cold water will not cause a strong vasoconstriction, which means it will not cause a cramp.

If you have diseases of the spine or blood vessels, then it is better not to take risks and do not swim to the depth. It is better if there is someone next to you who can quickly come to the rescue and pull you ashore.

And most importantly – if you suddenly have a cramp, it is important not to panic, otherwise you can quickly swallow water and choke. Try to take a comfortable position, lie on your back and call for help. Fear, panic and fuss only exacerbate the situation.

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