by Linda Shrigley

Created on: July 28, 2008

How to relieve Charlie Horses while pregnant

How many of you women out there have experienced the dreaded "Charlie Horses" when you were pregnant. I have never known any pregnant women that have not had this horrible pain in the calves of their legs, while they were pregnant, and some even get them throughout your whole life, I know I still get Charlie Horse's every once in a while, but they are much worse while I carried my children.

Charlie Horse's occurs because the womb has expanded, causing extra weight on the lower portion of the back. The muscles then tighten, causing extreme pain in the lower calves of the legs. There is no warning when this horrible pain from the Charlie Horse's is going to occur; they simply come on, fast, and furious, usually while you are sleeping.

When you are pregnant, you think the worse thing you will have to go through is morning sickness, and some weight gain. Wrong. Compared to the Charlie Horse's, morning sickness is a breeze at least that is how I felt about it anyway. There are probably some women that will beg to differ with me, but in my case, morning sickness was never as bad as those dreadful Charlie Horse's.

These usually happen in the middle of the night, right when you are slipping into a great night's sleep. You are completely relaxed, and BAM, a Charlie Horse hits you like a lightning bolt. It feels just that bad too. At this point, you will try to hop out of bed, but that will be hard to do, because your leg has stiffened up into a curved position, and very, very painful.

There are a couple of things that you will be able to do to help you get over this pain, and straighten your legs. One thing you will be able to do, is to try massaging your calf gently in a down ward motion only. This may relax the muscle, allowing you to stretch it to full length. While doing this, try twirling your toes in a downward twist during the massaging. This may take up to a couple of minutes before you may get any results, if you do get results.

Another thing you can do is something my Grandmother told me when I was expecting my first child. She told me to walk on a cold floor. At first you will be walking on your tip toes, but shortly, you will be able to put your foot flat on the cold floor. This works pretty well too, I still use this method when I get the every so often Charlie Horse.

One other method of relief that I was told about, was to put some type of frozen vegetable, such as peas, carrots, something small so they cover the area closer to the skin. Slowly rub the package of vegetables up and down your calf, using a little pressure on the downward strokes. This helps the muscles relax as well, allowing your leg to straighten out to full length.

No one wants to get Charlie Horse's, but if you do happen to experience one, I hope these remedies will help you to get over them quickly. They are extremely painful, and happens without warning.

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