Hey guys, what’s up? It’s Stephen Dunn with CORE Therapy and Pilates and today I want to answer a question that actually came about last night at about 4 o’clock in the morning…
I was in the middle of sleeping and I got an intense charley horse right in my right hamstring, I jumped out of bed and started stretching it out. In the middle of that I ended up waking Cheryl up and yes Cheryl’s back in town after her trip to Germany and she’s like what are you doing? I said, “Oh, I had a charley horse.”
Her question to me was, “why do they call it a charley horse?” and I’m like, “I don’t know who the hell charley is and what horse he’s riding and I have no idea why it’s a charley horse…”
That’s just a common word, so what I decided to do is… I looked it up today and I wanted to know why it’s called that and I really couldn’t find out that answer. What I did find out is the definition of it that I already knew and basically the ‘what’ it is…
So what a charley horse is, it’s a spasm. It’s an involuntary spasm of the muscle, typically it’s in the calf, or hamstring, or the bottom of the foot if it’s while you’re sleeping. If it’s happening in your arms and your upper body is usually at times of activity. I get them in my hamstrings and calves with sleeping at times but I’ll get one right hand under my jaw with yawning… now when I get one there, it’s really interesting because when I get in my calf and hamstring, I can just stretch it out. You just stretch it the opposite direction and it’s pretty easy to get it to let go. It might hurt for a moment but it can go away pretty quickly. If you get it in your neck and your jaw from yawning or I’ve got it in my diaphragm from breathing deeply or from doing certain exercises, those are a little bit more challenging to get to let go (with stretching)…
So what I found from doing a little research and looking into it is that one of the biggest causes of it is dehydration or a chemical imbalance where there’s not enough magnesium, potassium. So drinking water or a salt pill would be a great way to offset that… if it’s a spot that you can’t stretch.
So that’s the definition of a charley horse…
Why it’s called a charley horse? Anybody know? Comment below… let me know, I would love to know. I think it’s pretty fascinating how and I’m not sure if it’s a phrase that young people know, if it’s just a phrase that us older people know… I’m not sure about that. Do young people know what a charley horse is? Is that a phrase that’s still used anymore? But anyway, that’s my story for today…
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Ever had a Charley Horse in your calf, hammy or bottom of the foot and did not know what to do about it? Not sure how to stretch out those tight muscles? Call 512-215-4227 to set up some time with one of our expert Physical Therapist or Pilates Instructors to learn more…