Abdominal Cramps: What can cause abdominal cramps and a new way to treat them
Abdominal cramping can be a warning sign for some fairly benign or even serious conditions. Some of the more benign conditions like constipation, lactose intolerance, and diarrhea are still quite painful and the abdominal cramps can quickly get your full attention. Serious conditions, such as food poisoning, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), ulcers, or diverticulosis also manifest in abdominal cramps.
Sometimes, a simple – and healthy – shift to consuming more fiber in your diet without adding sufficient water intake can cause abdominal cramps as well. Abdominal cramps can even be caused by eating too large a meal or lifting a very heavy object, which puts a strain on the abdominal muscles. Muscle cramping can even be caused by a lack of calcium in the body or something as simple as straining your abdominal muscles in a particularly grueling workout.
While you may certainly have to meet with your health professionals to find the root cause for your abdominal cramps and ensure that your gastronomic and intestinal systems get healthy, relieving your abdominal cramps in the meantime can become quite a chore. Some people suffer regular pain and aching in their abdomen and they will do just about anything to get rid of their excruciating stomach pains. Treating the direct health problem with medical attention will not always provide immediate relief for these painful symptoms, so patients are often left to their own devices to cure the pain while their medical team works on the underlying health issue.
Often, patients can achieve near-immediate relief through the application of heat or cold to the abdomen. That particular area of the human body is crossed with a pattern of muscles and when any part of your digestive system is in distress, the muscles in that area tend to contract and even spasm. If you eat an unusually large meal, for example, the abdominal muscles may tense to help the stomach work on digesting that meal. If you’ve improperly lifted a heavy object and strained any of the abdominal muscles, those muscles may be temporarily injured, which can cause them to tense and spasm as they heal. If your stomach pains are muscle-related, the application of heat, later followed by the application of cold, can ease the muscle spasms and even stop their tensing and spasms. Once the muscle pain has eased with the application of heat, a following application of cold can keep the muscles relaxed for a longer period of time, giving the patient relief from the abdominal cramps.
If your abdominal cramps are related to some of the more serious, but treatable, medical conditions such as food poisoning or IBS, relief in the form of applying cold pressure can ease the painful symptoms in seconds. By applying cold to the abdominal area that is suffering the most pain, the underlying muscles are in effect, stilled. Muscles need to be warm to function at their best, and by cooling the muscle down, you effectively stop its ability to contract or spasm as easily. This effect can give the muscle time to rest, relax and be still, which in turn gives the patient much relief from the pain the abdominal muscle’s action is causing.
SootheAway is the first affordable source of continuous, targeted, heating and cooling therapy. SootheAway offers releif from abdominal cramps at the push of a button. If you want to learn more about this new form of pain relief click here.
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