Pregnant women often have leg cramps at night, but in fact, leg cramps at night also occur frequently in the elderly, especially in winter when it is cold at night.
So, what should be done to alleviate the occurrence of such situations? In this regard, the official WeChat of the 120 Beijing Emergency Center said today that elderly people, especially those who are frail and poorly nourished, are very prone to nighttime calf cramps. Current research suggests that one of the main causes is a decrease in serum calcium ion concentration, also known as hypocalcemia, which leads to increased nerve and muscle excitability. There are other reasons such as cold stimulation, less clothing, not warm nest, long time playing mahjong at night; walking too much lower limb fatigue, sleep lower limb bending time and many other factors, can also cause calf cramps.
According to the introduction, hypocalcemia is the phenomenon that blood calcium is lower than the normal value, which belongs to the calcium metabolism disorder. Since the physiological role of calcium depends on free calcium (i.e. ionized calcium), hypocalcemia generally also refers to low ionized calcium, also known as free calcium below normal (<1.1 mmol/L).
Hypocalcemia often has no obvious clinical symptoms. The severity of clinical symptoms is not completely consistent with the degree of blood calcium reduction, but rather with the speed and duration of blood calcium reduction, which can cause neuromuscular system, cardiovascular system, skeletal and skin and soft tissue diseases, can occur random muscle and smooth muscle spasms, leading to convulsions, seizures, can also cause asthma, and in severe symptoms can cause laryngeal muscle spasms leading to asphyxia, cardiac insufficiency, cardiac arrest.
120 tips, one is to use the thumb or forefinger finger to press the point until the point has a soreness and swelling; two is to immediately sit up, straighten the leg, and then use both hands to force the palm of the foot towards the back of the foot; three is to use the thumb and forefinger to press both sides of the heel and rub up and down; four is the occurrence of cramps to walk up and down the bed, and bear the pain with the affected foot forefoot stirring down to the ground.
120 reminded that if low blood calcium is the cause, the main thing is to take calcium supplements, such as calcium gluconate tablets, calcium lactate and other drugs, and to eat foods with high calcium content and rich in nutrients, such as milk, beans, shrimp, kelp and so on. In addition, in winter, we should go outdoors more often and get more sunlight to avoid cold stimulation and excessive fatigue.
