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It is heartbreaking and painful to see all the effort, hard work and time spent in training by an athlete go down the drain because they had a serious attack of muscle cramp at the finish line. Muscle cramps are painful attacks of the muscles particularly the lower leg that is associated with fatigue. It would be good to discuss this issue that is a career threat to many athletes.

What is the cause of muscle cramp? I will try to make this article less technical as possible because most body descriptions are scientific and technical terms are used.
As I have already mentioned, muscle cramps are basically caused by fatigue which is as a result of overuse of muscles. Your body needs some chemicals to keep it running. These important dissolved minerals like sodium, iron and zinc are found in food like vegetables and protein. In this case, these minerals are called electrolytes. You need a lot of water to supplement the functioning of these electrolytes as an athlete. Therefore dehydration and overuse of your muscles will make your muscles fatigue leading to muscle cramp. Other causes of muscle cramping include:

Excessive Training

This deprives the body a chance to relax and depletes the minerals in the body.

Inadequate Aeration

Muscles work best with enough aeration. Conditions under which one trains can improve or reduce the chances of an athlete having muscle cramps.

How to treat Muscle Cramps

Remedy for muscle cramp should be handled with care. You should first know the cause of your muscle cramp especially if you have a history of muscle cramp. Here is some general ways of going around it:

Drink enough water

Adapt right stretching methods with assistance from a
professional trainer

Ice and massage your muscles regularly

Contract your muscles.

Athletes depend heavily on their muscles; they are the building block to their success. Running, especially long distance marathon will require you to train and have your muscles in the right shape, a fact that if ignore, could be lethal to both you and your career. Time without number, athletes and soccer players have left the pitch broken, injured and seriously fractured. With all these incidents that happen in broad daylight, it is very unfortunate that some athletes still ignore or pay minimal attention to their muscle care.

If you are an athlete or you are aspiring to become one. It will be to your own advantage to do the following:

Seek assistance from a professional preferable a chiropractic expert

This is a right step towards success. Do not be too rigid and blinded by your previous success without professional help, you might be shocked by your body tests and what awaits you. These professional are well knowledgeable in matters of musculoskeletal systems and biomechanics of your body, phenomena that you don’t know and you will probably never come to understand. Their advice, regular checkups and treatment are very important for you.

Watch your Diet

You will be doing your body a disfavor to eat imbalanced meals. Having a nutritionist guide your eating is prudent if you want to remain relevant in your career. Reduce your intake of cholesterol and salt. Sodas and other processed meals are not very good for an athlete. I will hit where it hurts most – alcohol. There is a very close relationship between your alcohol intakes and your muscles. Alcohol affects your nervous system and hence your muscles. Your water intake should remain at least six glasses a day.

Sleep

Have enough sleep. You spend long hours of the day in the GYM and on the pitch sweating. This mounts pressure on your brain. It is good to improve coordination of your body. This can only happen when your brain is stress free and relaxed.

The internet is awash with effects of performance enhancement drugs on athletes and their careers. Similarly, there is also a lot of information on the internet that tries to validate the use of these drugs but that is expected. The reason for some people trying to support the use of these drugs is understood that they are in business. However only unscrupulous business people and law breakers will make money at the expense of other, erroneous date and calculated advertisements will try to lure many into using the these enhancement drugs. You need to be careful; after all you will make the final decision.

Here are some of the effects of performance enhancement drugs (PED)

Dehydration

PDE cause dehydration – a situation that leaves the body deficient of the very important body fluids. One way of enhancing performance is through weight loss. These drugs do so by elimination excess water or fluids from the body. The effects of this are translated as muscle cramps, low blood pressure and excessive dizziness that sometimes lead to fainting.

Effects on emotions

It has been proven that prolonged use of steroids and other PED can have severe effects on an athlete’s emotions. Impartial judgment, irritability, moodiness, jealousy and rage are the most common emotional effects that tend to be actuated by the use of these drugs. This is contrary to the true sportsmanship that calls for courtesy and comradeship.

Liver and its associate effects

The most dangerous effect that PED can have on an athlete which is capable of ending a potential career is the damage of the liver which comes in form of liver tumor. Drug – Free – America which is an organization behind this findings asserts that when liver develops this tumor, the consequential effects is jaundice ,edema, yellowing of skin and swelling of both arms and legs.