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(JD) · Sep 14, 2009, 04:28 PM

Yeah, those are spasms. Most of my muscles feel like rocks they are so spasmed most of the time. In fact, my driving foot muscles spasmed yesterday during a pedicure, and I couldn't even drive to PT today!

There are a myriad of ways to ease muscle spasms. You'll just have to figure out what helps you when, you know?

I use
Tennis balls kneaded into the knotted muscle... it hurts, but that's necessary to release the muscle. Work it a bit, ease off and keep coming back to work it.

Either ice or heat directly to the spasmed area. No more than 15 minutes of it at a time, and then at least none for 15 minutes. You can keep that routine for as long as you need to...but don't use anything longer than 15 minutes or the muscles become sensitized to it and it won't work as well in the future.

Quinine. Quinine water, or some club sodas have a bit of quinine in it. I drink a few sips when my muscles contracture, and it's helps almost immediately for me. You can find it next to the club soda in your grocery store probably.

TENS unit. A prescription item that is an electrical pain killer. It scrambles the "pain" message from the nerves so the brain never registers the pain.

Stretching. This is the most important ONGOING element for me. This is why I go to PT 3x a week even after 22 years since the injury. I can't fully stretch out my muscles, even though I do home series of stretches. If your ham strings aren't stretched, for example, it will increase or cause back pain / spasms. The rest of your muscles are the same way. Get a chart of basic stretches from your doctor to do, or search online. For my current foot spasming I have to (painfully) stretch my calf muscle more (standing, etc...)

Eat a healthy diet and get good sleep. Either of these lacking and you're in for muscle spasming.