Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
[email protected] — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Rough treatment for a charliehorse
Heymatt:
Once or twice a year, I will wake to a charlie-horse. In my leg. I always instinctively pound the offending muscle group with my fist. I’d like to know if this is a universal instinct, and if so, why? Honestly, it doesn’t ever seem to accomplish much besides causing me to hurt in a different manner.
— Laurens
Leg cramps are a major bummer and, as far as I know, just about everyone goes straight to some kind of a massage to try and get relief. Whether that’s instinctive (because people have evolved with leg cramps) or culturally conditioned (because massage and musculoskeletal discomfort go hand-in-hand in popular consciousness) is anybody’s guess. Folksy home remedies for leg cramps abound, but my favorite is, without a doubt, putting a bar of soap underneath the sheets when you go to sleep at night. Apparently, it works for a lot of people!
Here's something you might be interested in.
Rough treatment for a charliehorse
Rough treatment for a charliehorse
Heymatt:
Once or twice a year, I will wake to a charlie-horse. In my leg. I always instinctively pound the offending muscle group with my fist. I’d like to know if this is a universal instinct, and if so, why? Honestly, it doesn’t ever seem to accomplish much besides causing me to hurt in a different manner.
— Laurens
Leg cramps are a major bummer and, as far as I know, just about everyone goes straight to some kind of a massage to try and get relief. Whether that’s instinctive (because people have evolved with leg cramps) or culturally conditioned (because massage and musculoskeletal discomfort go hand-in-hand in popular consciousness) is anybody’s guess. Folksy home remedies for leg cramps abound, but my favorite is, without a doubt, putting a bar of soap underneath the sheets when you go to sleep at night. Apparently, it works for a lot of people!
Comments
Putting a bar of soap where? Underneath the sheets? And this works how? Is there a special incantation that one needs to recite while placing the soap? Matthew? You trying to slip something by us here?
I have no idea how or why it works, but there are actual doctors out there who lend credence to the idea that slipping a bar of soap (Dove, Ivory, Irish Spring or otherwise) under one's bedsheets keeps nighttime leg cramps away.
If you want to add a little prayer to Sesquahtaaxyyzzzll (the ancient Sumerian god of charlie horses, go ahead, look him up) to make sure, be my guest.
Quinine works, but you can't get a prescription anymore. I think they have it in Canada and Mexico, though. Also, a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar added to a beverage (like juice or tea) can also help.