Swimmers: Got Cramps?

Pickle Juice??? I was talking to Stone Cold about getting instep and shin/calf cramps when I was marathon riding a couple of weekends ago. He had a 2-word reply:

"PICKLE JUICE"

"OK, why?" "I don't know, it's a really old remedy, look it up on Google." So I did. And "surprise, surprise, surprise!"...there are a couple of articles (links to full articles at end of post), about not only pickle juice, but apparently MUSTARD works wonders as well. Enjoy!

The first article I found is well written and the meat of it is presented here:

Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?

"Dr. Robert E. Agee of the Alabama Sports Medicine Institute treats acute exercise-associated muscle cramps with mustard. An athlete who begins to cramp is given one packet of mustard, washed down with water, every two minutes until the muscle cramp is gone. Although no formal research has been conducted to identify if, why, or how the mustard is working, Agee has had great results getting his athletes back into the game quickly."

A Shot A Day

"We have been using pickle juice to prevent and treat muscle cramps at the University of Northern Iowa for the past three years. Primarily, the athletic training staff has used it as a last resort in treating or preventing exercise-associated muscle cramps. When all of the previously mentioned preventive techniques—proper conditioning, nutrition and hydration, and stretching—have been tried and have failed, we add pickle juice to the athlete’s pregame regimen. We have found that by giving two ounces of pickle juice to the athlete 10 minutes before exercise, even the most chronic cramper can remain cramp-free during high-intensity exercise.

"Pickle juice also seems to effectively treat acute muscle cramps. We first found this out when an athlete who was on a pickle-juice regimen forgot to take his dose before a game. When he suffered severe bilateral cramps in his gastrocnemius, he was taken out of the game and given two ounces of pickle juice. The cramps were completely gone within 30 seconds. We have tried this technique with other athletes and found it to be universally effective, with the great majority of cramps not recurring.

"Usually, two ounces of pickle juice will treat and prevent any cramp. There have been a few situations where the athlete was suffering from muscle cramps in more than one area, or the cramp was in a large muscle group, like the abdomen, and he or she was then given additional pickle juice. It is imperative that the athletic trainer advise the athlete to continue hydrating, keep a balanced diet, and to take pickle juice in moderation.

"Additionally, we have treated muscle cramps by giving two ounces of straight vinegar to athletes who were experiencing an EAMC (exercise-associated muscle cramp). It was found that the involuntary contraction went away in 15 to 30 seconds and did not recur. Although the straight vinegar has worked, it is very difficult for athletes to consume straight vinegar. Pickle juice is more palatable and has been accepted better by the athletes.

"Vinegar is the obvious common ingredient in both mustard (which is used by some athletic trainers) and pickle juice. But, as yet, there is no experimental research that has explained the mechanism of how these treatments work."

Link to full article

Article #2


Article #3