The most common site of a cramp as we age is in the calf. Or, there can be cramps in leg muscles that make walking or running difficult. The cramps can and often do impair function, for example, writer’s cramp occurs in muscles of the hand making it impossible to write.

The longer the cramp lasts the more likely the muscle will be sore for a prolonged period after the acute pain has subsided. The spasm may last only a few seconds or up to 15 minutes. There always is the sensation of a tense or tight muscle that feels very hard compared to other relaxed muscles. There may be tenderness on touching the muscle with ones hands. The pain is localized at the site of the muscle. The most important sign is intense pain caused by the extreme tightening of the muscle. It is easy to self-diagnose muscle spasms and cramps. Neither of these conditions is voluntary, meaning we did not intentionally tighten the muscle as we might when lifting a weight. In other words the process begins as a muscle spasm which is a tightening of the muscle and if it persists it becomes a cramp. If the contraction is sustained for more than several seconds it moves from being a muscle in spasm to a muscle cramp. The medical definition of this is the contraction of a muscle or muscle group that is unintentional. One of the many things to “go wrong” as we age is the unwanted and often painful involuntary contraction of muscles in our legs and sometimes other areas.

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