What You Should Know About Nighttime Leg Cramps
5/19/202615 min
If you’ve ever woken up to a sudden, painful leg cramp, you’re not alone. Sanjay takes a closer look at a listener's question about nighttime leg cramps -- and why popular remedies like bananas and magnesium don’t always help. Plus, what swollen feet and ankles can reveal about your health.
This episode was produced by Jennifer Lai with assistance from Elizabeth Corallo
Medical Writer: Andrea Kane
Senior Producer: Dan Bloom
Technical Director: Dan Dzula
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSanjay Gupta· Host0:00
[music] Hey there. Welcome to Paging Dr. Gupta. Every week you've been sending in questions, things that you're curious about, and I've been listening. We're digging into the facts to help you understand your health better. And with that, we'll get to our first question. Jennifer, who do we have?
Jennifer Lai0:19
Hey, Sanjay. Our first question is from a 60-year-old listener named Florence.
Florence0:24
I'm a physical therapist, and I have been getting nocturnal cramping in my peroneal muscles, sometimes other muscles of my... of one foot or one leg, and each doctor seems to just say this is just age. I'm wondering if you could address this. I hear a lot of this from my patients about night cramps. It seems like it's something that's just brushed aside as not important. Of course, I've heard things like eat bananas, take magnesium, take potassium. I've tried those things. No effect. So I'm wondering if you have any insight or research on that.
Sanjay Gupta· Host1:00
Okay. Florence, thank you very much. Um, first of all, for those of you who might not be aware, Florence's question is specifically about peroneal muscles. Now, that's a group of three muscles that run down the outside of your lower leg. Okay? The outside of your lower leg. They help lift the outside edge of your foot. They provide stability to your ankle. Now, her specific question is about cramps, and we get a lot of questions about this topic because I think almost all of us have