Phun Physiology: Pickle Juice and Muscle Cramps

You’ve probably heard of the latest quick fix for muscle cramps: pickle juice. Is there anything to the claim that a few slurps of the sour brine actually stops muscle cramps? Moreover, what does the science say, if anything, on the matter? Stay tuned.

There have been many anecdotal testimonies claiming that pickle juice not only prevents muscle cramps, but that it relieves muscle cramps faster than anything else on the store shelf. And as randonneurs, we know that the worth of any convenience store is measured by the shelf space allotted to pickles.

The only problem sometimes is deciding which one!

Do you think that maybe some people may not find the mixture of vinegar (acetic acid) and salt (calcium chloride, sodium chloride) in water very appetizing?

Pickle juice has also been commercially packaged. This link to a YouTube video shows someone demonstrating how to drink pickle juice.

Every kid knows that the worst thing about medicine is taking it. But maybe, just maybe, we don’t actually need to drink pickle juice in order to receive its benefit! Read on . . .

Apparently, pickle juice does stop cramping. In controlled experiments, researchers have discovered that drinking pickle juice stops cramping in just over a minute, while water provides no relief from cramping.

However, because cramping ceased immediately, researchers now believe that the positive effects of the sour elixir are not due to its having been absorbed by the body. In other words, while pickle juice contains salt and fluids—which are known to alleviate cramping—they haven’t had time to re-establish proper fluid and electrolyte imbalances in slightly dehydrated human subjects. There goes one hypothesis out the window.

There’s more. Unless you really had your mind set on it, you can actually forego both the pickle and the briny solution, since research has also indicated that drinking vinegar by itself will relieve muscle cramps.

Not appealing, but you’re still in a pickle?

Don’t worry. Apparently, you don’t even have to swallow the vinegar!

In their search for a scientific explanation, researchers have hypothesized that there may be some specialized sensory receptors in the mouth and throat that communicate with nerve cells attached to the spasmed skeletal muscles, telling them to ease up. Or, in the researchers’ own words:

We suspect that the rapid inhibition of the electrically induced cramps reflects a neurally mediated reflex that originates in the oropharyngeal region and acts to inhibit the firing of alpha motor neurons of the cramping muscle.
If this is the case, my advice would be to obtain something with vinegar in it and simply: “Rinse and spit.”

Unless, of course, you’ve been hankering to go a round with “Hot Mama.” In which case, you’re on your own!

A word of caution: while pickle juice may provide an immediate fix for muscle cramping, don’t ignore the underlying causes, which still need to be remedied, including proper fluid and electrolyte balance. And do it as soon as possible!

Let’s ride!

Phun Physiology: Thought of a Heart Cramp Shouldn't Cramp Your Cycling

If you’ve ever experienced a leg cramp, you may have wondered if you could get a heart cramp. A leg cramp is one thing. But a heart cramp would be disastrous.

A search of “heart cramp” on the Internet reveals a few self-reporting individuals who are convinced they’ve experienced one. Even more amazing—they’ve lived to tell. We need to remind ourselves that self-diagnosis is tricky, hence the time-honored admonitions of seeking second opinions and physicians not treating themselves.

Repeating the Internet search, substituting highfalutin synonyms for heart cramp, “cardiac tetanus” and “cardiac tetany,” one is introduced to a world of medicalese.

The result? Great news for cyclists! The heart does not normally cramp unless one considers the administration of electrical shock or hypoparathyroidism normal. At least that is what biology and medical students are taught nowadays in the halls of academe.

Danesh and Dao at the UC-Davis School of Medicine assert: “Tetany is not possible in cardiac muscle because of the prolonged refractory period.” In the textbook I use in my human anatomy and physiology class, the authors Marieb and Hoehn write: “The long cardiac refractory period normally prevents tetanic contraction, which would stop the heart’s pumping action.”

For non-physiologists, refractory period is the time after a muscle cell is stimulated and contracts before it can be stimulated to contract again. Because skeletal muscle cells have a relatively short refractory period, constant or rapid-fire stimulation can cause nonstop whole-muscle contraction known variously as a cramp, tetanus, or tetany. But the long refractory period of cardiac muscle discourages tetany.

True—cardiac muscle can undergo tetany with the application of electrical shock, a phenomenon reported by Burridge in 1920 in an article entitled “Cardiac Tetanus” in the Journal of Physiology. But as long as cyclists don’t get zapped by lightning or step on downed electrical wires this shouldn’t be cause for worry.

Extremely low blood calcium levels can also cause muscle tetany. This is the connection with hypoparathyroidism and cardiac tetany. The parathyroid glands are stuck to the back of the larger thyroid gland. When blood calcium levels are too low to maintain proper nerve and muscle function, parathyroid hormone release restores calcium levels.

But hypoparathyroidism, or too little parathyroid hormone release, results in chronic low blood calcium levels, or hypocalcemia. This puts skeletal and cardiac muscle at increased risk for tetany. However, someone is more likely to experience hypocalcemic-induced neurological problems before experiencing muscle tetany.

Halpern and Wang make this point writing on the various health ailments associated with hypothyroidism: “Cardiac effects are limited because cardiac Tetany [sic] occurs at levels of hypocalcemia lower than those causing neurologic effects; therefore, the patient usually comes to medical attention prior to the onset of cardiac disturbances.” In other words, those suffering from hypothyroidism are likely to have non-cardiac-related health problems that would tend to curtail if not prevent cycling.

One hypocalcemic malady for example is the bone disease known as rickets. I am aware of articles in British Medical Journal and Indian Pediatrics which have reported the rare occurrence of cardiac tetany in children suffering from rickets.

It is important to note that heart cramps are not the same thing as either angina or heart attack. Any cyclist who senses some sort of chest discomfort should get checked posthaste by a medical expert competent to distinguish between heart burn and a true heart malady.

My purpose here is to assure cyclists that a leg cramp does not necessarily portend anything more sinister relating to the heart. Rather, leg cramps prevent further physical exertion. Leg cramps may also motivate cyclists to try to determine their possible cause.

My advice to cyclists? Don’t let the thought of a heart cramp slow you down.