Cramp is a sudden, painful, involuntary contraction of a muscle. It generally affects the legs and hands. It can occur due to various reasons such as metabolic abnormality, sever cold, lack of blood flow and mineral deficiency. All these elicit pain or other types of sensory impulses that are transmitted from the muscle to the spinal cord, thus causing reflex muscle contraction. Thus, a positive feedback mechanism occurs so that a small amount of initial irritation leads to more and more contraction until a full-blown muscle cramp ensues.
Massage helps to overcome cramp mainly by stretching the cramped muscle. In other words, it elicits what can be termed as ‘reciprocal inhibition’ of the muscle. This can at times relieve the cramp.
Cramp can occur due to localized muscle spasm. The pain or uneasiness is caused by nervous irritation due to accumulation of some ‘metabolites; or chemicals’ in that area. Massage, external compression of muscle, improves blood supply. Helps in washing away these metabolites and thus relives the cramp. However, not all cramps can be relieved by massage.