The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1944-08-07

10 sit down and rest. After a short
time the cramp, or rather the pain,
for it may exist without actual
muscular spasm, goes away and
the walk a be continued. This
condition is called intermittent
limping, or claudication, and is
closely analogous TO heart pang or
angina p~ectoris.
1t is almost certainly due TO
shutting off Of the blood supply TO
the muscles, the result of the
hardened, i~nelastic and narrowed
arteries in the latter periods Of
life. The exertion of walking
makes the muscles demand more
oxygen and more blood, and this
demand the narrowed arteries
cannot meet. With the period Of
rest the muscles get enough oxy-
gen so that they stop grumbling,
and the walking can be resumed
until the blood supply proves in
adequate again. About the only
effective treatment is TO cut down
walking to absolute necessities.
Other Types Of Cramps
But there.are many other kinds
Of leg cramps. One kind, far from
being brought on by exertion,
comes on at night in bed, and are
not limited TO the middle and old
age group. They occur quite fire.
quently to women in the second
half Of pregnancy, but also to
young men and women Of any
status.
OF course swimmers cramps Is
still another sort in that it oc-
ours to young people, but under
quite violent exertion. These are
probably essentially, so far as
cause Is concerned, quite similar
to the old age group of intermit-
tent limpers, in that the exertion
Of swimming demands just more
oxygen than the swimmers heart
and lungs can supply, even II the
arteries are young, thin and. elias
tic.
To explain the night cramps Of
the young while in bed however
has taxed the resources Of the
Psychologists. Not that q great
deal Of research has not been done
OF the subject. One would suppose,
for instance, that since heat i'm
proves the circulation the warmth
of the bed and bed clothes would
keep the muscles from cramping,
but Bowers, in the Military Sur
geon Journal, showed that with
some Of these cases the warmth
increases the metabolic needs Of
the muscle, whereas cold de-
creases the metabolic level. So
perhaps kicking the bed clothes of
will relieve some of these cramps,
though this is a poor time Of year
to bring that up.
Nocturnal Leg Cramps
At any rate these young peo-
pies nocturnal leg cramps while
in bed do not mean any special
disease condition. They pass and
the outlook is good, hardly any
treatment except massage and
foot exercises being required.
The basis Of all muscular cramps
Except writer's cramp which is
another thing again and probably
due TO nervous disorder) Is lack
of circulation to the part, but the
trigger that sets them off is some
disturbance of nutrition in the
muscle. Muscles require a some
what complicated set Of menus for
their proper function and one Of
the chemicals they need is cal
cium. 1t is possible that the diet
Of the musele-cramper is deficient
) in calcium. A group Of physiolo-
gists studying such people report
ed that they admit they consumed
almost no milk, which is the best
source Of calcium for our diet.
This is a plain hint towards treat
ment for relief. But, as I said in
the beginning, most of our ex-
plantations for cramps are very
th~eoretie.