Charley horse

Charley horse
Classification and external resources
Specialty	Sports medicine
ICD-10	M62.8, R25.2
ICD-9-CM	728.85
MedlinePlus	002066
Patient UK	Charley horse

Charley horse is a popular colloquial term in Canada and the United States for painful spasms or cramps in the leg muscles, typically lasting anywhere from a few seconds to about a day. It can also refer to a bruise on an arm or leg and a bruising of the quadriceps muscle of the anterior or lateral thigh, or contusion of the femur, that commonly results in a haematoma and sometimes several weeks of pain and disability. In this latter sense, such an injury is known as dead leg. In Australia it is also known as a corked thigh or corky. It often occurs in contact sports, such as football when an athlete suffers a knee (blunt trauma) to the lateral quadriceps causing a haematoma or temporary paresis and antalgic gait as a result of pain. Another term, jolly horse, is used to describe simple painful muscle cramps in the leg or foot, especially those that follow strenuous exercise.

The term can be used to refer to cramps in the foot muscles.

These muscle cramps can have many possible causes directly resulting from high or low pH or substrate concentrations in the blood, including hormonal imbalances, low levels of magnesium, potassium or calcium, dehydration, side effects of medication, or, more seriously, diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and neuropathy. They are also a common complaint during pregnancy.

Treatment

Relief is usually given by either massaging or stretching the foot, ankle or knee in the opposite direction of the spasm.

Colloquial advice suggests that dietary deficiency of potassium, found richly in bananas and many vegetables, is a common cause of these spasms.

In other languages

In France, it is referred to as a crampe (cramp) or, if the muscle is torn, as claquage. in Dutch it is called "ijsbeentje" ("ice leg") In Spain, it is known as a calambre. In Portugal, it is called a paralítica (roughly "paralyzer") and cãimbra (cramp). In Brazil, it has become known as tostão or paulistinha. In German, it is known as a Muskelkrampf ("muscle cramp") or more colloquially as a Pferdekuss ("horse's kiss") if there is a bruise or Muskelkater ("muscle hangover") without a bruise. In southern Italy, it is called morso del ciuccio ("donkey bite"), while in northwestern Italy, it is called vecchia ("old woman") or dura ("hard one" or "tough one"). In some areas of central Italy, it is called "water buffalo". In Norway, it is referred to as a lårhøne ("thigh hen"), though in Norwegian only as a result of damage as in sports, in Sweden lårkaka ("thigh cookie"), in Finland puujalka ("wooden leg"), and in Denmark "trælår" ("wooden thigh", both referring to how the thigh feels hard, almost like wood). In Estonia, the term used is puukas ("a woody"). In Japan it is known as komuragaeri (こむら返り) ("calf cramp"). In Israel, it is called regel etz ("wooden leg"). It is called chaca ("rat") in the Chamorro language of Guam and the Mariana Islands. In Hindi, it is colloquially known as a 'bainta'. In Telugu, it is known as 'timmiri'. In Romania it is often called 'cârcel'.

References

• Shulman, D. Whence "Charley Horse"?. American Speech, Vol. 24, No. 2 (Apr., 1949), pp. 100–104.
• Tonbridge, St. V. "Charley Horse" Again. American Speech, Vol. 25, No. 1. (Feb., 1950), p. 70.
• Woolf, H B. Mencken as Etymologist: Charley Horse and Lobster Trick. American Speech, Vol. 48, No. 3/4. (Autumn - Winter, 1973), pp. 229–238.

External links

• Overview of symptoms at WebMD
• What works? Research summarized at PubMed Health.