Posted by elmoparis

I get terrible foot cramps in this pose, and in fact in all of the floor poses, especially the ones in which I am lying on my stomach. They come on when I am just lying there!  Or of course they start really badly every time I try and point my toes.  Any suggestions about how to stop them - they are really painful, and keep me from doing each pose to the fullest.  And sometimes I can’t lay still in corpse pose because of this!  Thanks

Hello

I was wondering if you can tell me how long you have been practicing. Because it is generally new students who get the problem with cramps. And guess what? In my experience it usually happens in the belly-down poses! The other time it happens is coming back to the series after a long break.

They can be so painful. All you can do at the time is look after the pain and stretch it out as soon as you can. On a physiological level your body may be crying out for electrolytes. Bring some to class or try supplementing your diet with a powder, or tablet or something.

The good news is that once you get over that hump, the cramps don’t return. Just make sure you take care of the electrolyte issue to ensure you are replenishing your system to promote optimal muscle firing!

Lastly, if these cramps persist then you do need to have some deeper investigations done to exclude other potential disease states.

Kind regards
Gabrielle

Hi, thanks for your response.  Yes, I am new to the practice. I did a set of 10 lessons last year, and I have only done 6 lessons so far in the last few weeks. I hope they will go away with time and practice, but I remember last time still having problems after ten lessons, so I don’t know how long it will take for them to go away. I also walk a lot (I walk to work, 30 minutes one way) in “work” shoes, sometimes high heels.  Maybe that could be part of the cause?  I remain a bit puzzled about electrolytes, I had never heard of electrolytes or replacing them!?  So, I live in Paris and I am not really sure where to get something and what to get.  Is water not enough? So I guess I will be doing some research on that!
Thanks!

Bonjour

Moi, je ne sais pas le mot exact francais, mais vous pourriez commencer vos recherches a un “Sports outlet” (Decathlon, par exemple) egalement au studio, ou a la pharmacie.

OK no more teasing. I don’t know the French word for the type of product that you seek. Electrolyte is the same in both languages - minus the acute accent. But it didn’t yield much for me in my brief online search. Naturally you could ask at your studio, a sports equipment outlet or a “pharmacie”.

I am glad that we are on the right track knowing that you are fairly new to the practice. It won’t be long now. Definitely walking long distances in high heels would tighten up the back of your calves significantly. Do you get to stretch them when you get to your destination? My guess is no - because you probably have other things to do when you get there! If you do have a chance you can do some surreptitious stretching while sitting down. Downward facing dog would be great but not very workplace friendly (depending on your workplace!)

Please say hello to Helene and Christian for me!

Namaste
Gabrielle