Stretching and Meditation: The Two Magical Remedies for Nighttime Muscle Cramps in Liver Disease

Highlights:

People with cirrhosis (a chronic liver disease) experience muscle cramps at night (nocturnal muscle cramps)
Frequent nighttime muscle cramps can disrupt sleep among cirrhosis patients
Practicing mind-body therapies such as meditation and stretching can relieve muscle cramps and improve sleep quality in cirrhosis patients

Stretching and meditation can relieve nocturnal muscle cramps (nighttime muscle cramps) in people suffering from cirrhosis (scarring or damage of the liver), suggests a new study.

A new study from the University of Michigan compared the two therapies (stretching and meditation) to reduce nocturnal muscle cramps and surprisingly found both effective.

The findings of the study are published in the journal Liver International ().

Liver Cirrhosis
Liver cirrhosis is a chronic liver disease that arises due to alcoholism, hepatitis, or other conditions. Liver failure patients are treated with transplantation.

‘Stretching and meditation can help cirrhosis patients say goodbye to nighttime muscle cramps (nocturnal muscle cramps) and get enough sleep at night. #musclecramps #cirrhosis #sleepwell’

Muscle Cramps in Chronic Liver Disease

Nearly two out of every three people with cirrhosis experience muscle cramps at night which may disrupt their sleep.

Since nocturnal muscle cramps affect sleep, they exacerbate other symptoms.

In a previous study, Michigan doctors found that muscle cramps have the highest impact on the quality of life, compared to other cirrhosis-related symptoms, thus making their treatment a priority.

What Are Nocturnal Leg Cramps
Nocturnal leg cramps are painful muscle contractions, which occur in the calf, foot or thigh muscles at night.

Mind-Body Therapies to Get Rid of Muscle Cramps Caused by Cirrhosis

“We wanted to test two different treatments for cramps: One was coping with meditation and the other was physically stretching to prevent the occurrence of the cramp,” said Elliot Tapper M.D., director of the University of Michigan’s Cirrhosis Program, and lead author on the paper.

The result was indeed eye-catching and somewhat unexpected.

The study findings highlight that both interventions significantly reduced cramps severity and also improved the quality of life, which was truly unexpected.

The researchers selected meditation as an active placebo after referring to earlier research on mindfulness techniques for caregivers of people with cirrhosis.

Muscle Cramps - Symptom Evaluation
Muscle cramps occur commonly and result in temporary pain in the muscles. They are often due to overuse of muscles or dehydration.

Stretching vs. Meditation: Which is Better for Nocturnal Muscle Cramps?

In this study, the participants in the meditation group and stretching group participants both reported reduced muscle cramp severity and experienced better sleep.

“The hope was that if we could see some positive effects for patients, then we could use meditation in other studies of generalized chronic pain,” said Tapper.

In order to get rid of cirrhosis cramps, a higher percentage of patients who stretched (79.5%) said they would suggest their intervention than those patients who meditated (55.3%). On the other hand, meditation was more likely to improve overall health-related quality of life.

I just thought meditation and stretching could only improve the quality of life, but not reduce cramps severity, added Tapper.

“These results show that, if practiced regularly, these mind-body methods have the ability to train people to overcome more painful physical symptoms like these,” said Tapper.

There is limited research on therapies to mitigate these cramps, despite the high prevalence of cirrhosis and other chronic liver disease.

An earlier research led by Tapper showed that drinking pickle juice could be an effective remedy to stop cramps. However, it did not improve the overall quality of life ().

Hence, the findings of the current study suggest that practicing mind-body therapies such as meditation and stretching can prevent cramps and help patients with chronic liver disease sleep better at night.

References:

The RELAX randomized controlled trial: Stretching versus meditation for nocturnal muscle cramps - (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38860445/)
Can pickle juice reduce cirrhotic muscle cramping? - (https://www.michiganmedicine.org/health-lab/can-pickle-juice-reduce-cirrhotic-muscle-cramping)

Source-Medindia

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