wizard
My brand spanking new racquet was in hand. Croakies around my head holding my glasses in place. And with a racquetball glove on my right hand, I was ready to play.
Last night was racquetball night with my buddies. We usually go on Thursdays for a little exercise and fun. The last time we played I broke my racquet trying to hit a ball that was a little too close to the wall. Bummer, I really liked that racquet. My new graphite racquet seemed pretty sweet so I was ready to break it in and break a sweat.
As soon as the first game was over I felt a horrible pain in my feet. It felt like the muscle on the top of my foot was cramping up on me. I pointed my toe to the ground behind me and slowly stretched it out. It hurt so bad I thought I was going to throw up.
It ran up my leg just below my shin and hurt terribly. Before we start playing I always stretch out but this was weird. Not a pulling as much as a cramping and for the life of me I could not get it to stop. I sat down on the floor and kept trying to stretch it out. Just thinking about it now hurts.
I feel like I should say that I have a pretty high threshold for pain so I am not one of those guys who cries when something hurts. I am also not a kickboxer so pain is not my thing either. But, remember this was on both of my feet so I was miserable. Cramping muscles hurt bad.
"Dude, I am done. I'm sorry we only played one but I can't walk and I think I am going to be sick."
"Are you low?" My diabeties conscious friend asked.
"No, like sick to my stomach. That is how bad it hurts." We paid for an hour and I was done after the first game! I felt terrible for quitting so soon but I saw no way to keep going.
Just then my cell phone rang. I slowly stepped out of the court and answered the call while my buddy continued to practice. After a 5 minute conversation I walked back in and felt fine.
"Let's go dude."
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah, let get in as much as we can."
And we played until our time was up.
Does anyone know what I can do, besides stop playing, to avoid this in the future? Has this happened to you?
Other than stretching out? dunno. Sometimes I'll find a foot or calf cramps up when I overstretch it. Right now, though, I'm still recovering from a calf that clamped down on me Tuesday and sent me flying with a backpack full of groceries, about 1/2 mile from home... not an auspicious end to my first moderately long (planned distance: ~4.5 mi round trip) outing of the season.
However... the PA at my walk-in asked me about electrolytes, and wants me on a muscle relaxant until Monday. Maybe there's something in that which you can use?
I don't know how to prevent it, but a quick remedy for muscle cramps is a teaspoon of yellow mustard (eat it, don't put it on the leg!). It works so quickly it's amazing. One of the little mustard packets is just the right size. You might want to sip some water as a chaser if you don't like the taste. I take mustard every night before bed. Make sure it has turmeric in it because it works better if it does.