Cramps are a common injury in sports. Cramps often arise from a short period of sudden and violent movement, such as in a full-court basketball game, when a Bolt-like sprint is made from under your own basket to the opponent’s basket quickly. If the preparation is not sufficient, the legs (especially the calves) will start to twitch violently and painfully after the sprint. Cramp Causes Calf Cramp (Carf Cramp or Spasm) is an involuntary tremor of the leg muscles, and is the most common of all muscle twitches. Most people will experience cramps at some point in their lives, and they can occur at any time, during meals and exercise, or even in their sleep. American author Andy Andrews said, “At least twice in your life, once for reckless love and once for a trip.” Actually, there is another one, for the inevitable cramps. Despite its frequent occurrence, the cause of most cramps remains unknown, according to the Mayo Clinic (Mayo Clinic). This is because there are so many reasons for muscle cramps, such as dehydration, exposure to cold, electrolyte imbalance (especially calcium deficiency), insufficient glycogen breakdown, lactic acid buildup, stress, etc., which can cause cramps. About how the muscles (skeletal muscle) contract, and, the following two diagrams can give us a relatively clear answer: the composition of skeletal muscle. Skeletal muscle contraction is caused by different structures of filament sliding between each other The nervous system controls calcium channels (portal), calcium can be tied to the top of the filament, thus controlling muscle contraction So the process of muscle contraction is not really simple, any of the above problems can be the cause of muscle cramps. For athletes, the most likely cause is temporary dehydration and electrolyte deficiency. Treatment Since calf cramps are more temporary than ankle sprains, instantaneous treatment is more important. In addition to replenishing electrolytes (mainly calcium), the most important point is to prevent the calf muscles from contracting. The easiest way to do this is to sit on the ground and try your best to trigger the back of the foot on the calf side of the cramp so that the calf muscles cannot contract automatically, thus relieving the effect of the cramp. As shown in the picture below: the practice is to sit on the ground and try your best to pull back the back of the foot on the calf side of the cramp, so that the calf muscles cannot contract automatically, thus relieving the effect of cramps. As shown in the picture below: The above method is enough to deal with most calf cramps. If there is still discomfort, then it means that the calf muscle is stiff and can be massaged by hand, or carefully move the ankle joint. If conditions permit, alternating hot and cold packs (Contrast Therapy) can be used to relieve muscle stiffness with hot packs on the one hand, and prevent swelling with cold packs on the other. It is worth mentioning that alternating hot and cold packs are designed to relieve muscle pain and have no effect on the elimination of ankle sprains.