instep cramps ruining sleep

Hi, @jimk849 - I am sorry to hear that you are suffering this tightness and painful cramping in the instep of your foot, and that there does not seem to be a quick way to get rid of it. Ouch. I can imagine this would be ruining your sleep, as you said.

I am not a medical professional, but I had a personal experience with painful cramping on the instep of my foot. In my case, it was plantar fasciitis. I'm pretty sure mine developed due to starting to run too much too soon, though I'm not sure. I know others who've experienced it due to footwear or due to nothing apparent at all. Here is information on that condition that you could explore with your doctor, if you think it's appropriate: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/plantar-fasciitis/symptoms-causes/syc-20354846

I'd also like to invite some other members on Connect who've mentioned foot pain or cramping to offer their thoughts on these instep cramps that are getting you out of bed. Please meet @bettyann @powerofpositive @workswithclay29 @catlover4884. @lioness @ladybugmg and @johnbishop may also have some insights.

@jmk849 - is there anything you've noted makes this cramping in your instep worse?

Hi, @jimk849, this may be a dumb question but do you stay hydrated? My wife will get some extreme leg cramps after she goes to bed if she hasn't drank enough water during the day. She will get up and drink a glass of water and the cramps soon go away.

Do you ever have the cramping during the day?

John

@jimk849 Hi Jim, and welcome.
I get cramps off and on, oftentimes when I am the pool exercising. I have found that more often than not it must be due to a bit of dehydration. I have been watching closely and the mornings when I do not drink a lot of water before heading out, I am much more apt to get cramps.

I used to get them at night also, prior to my liver transplant, but rarely do now. Being post liver transplant I take immunosuppressants. They were causing some distress to my kidneys so I have to drink 80 - 100 ounces a day. That does get me up a lot at night but it does keep me hydrated during the day. I have a scale that gives your BMI and your fluid retention. It's not an expensive and I am sure it is not very accurate but it does give you a good gauge of those things. Often when I get up in the morning my fluid is low.
I believe they also blame low magnesium for cramps.
If they determine that nothing serious is causing the cramps, there is an Amish remedy on Amazon that many people have found help from. It didn't help me though.
JK

@jmk849 Thank you Lisa I,ll give him some suggestions . I had a cramp while in the pool the water was to cold and my arch cramped your right massage nor stretching didn't help. Make sure you have enough minerals in your body stay hydrated during day as John said A trick that helps right away is eat mustard for cramp ,the other one is dill pickle juice either of these generally stop the cramp ,if your feet get cold are you sure there isnt any tendonitis in that tendon? I have it in my toe right now .

Thank you John for your reply. No I never get cramps during the day I get them very shortly after getting off my feet for the day, soon after I get in the bed for the night.

Thanks for your quick reply Lisa. I don't think it's my shoes as I went to the New Balance store and bought the best walking shoes they have and I bought special insoles for flat feet. These cramps are pretty random I can't think of anything that I do that would be the cause. Funny thing is I had a total knee replacement on June 25th.2018 and I was dreading getting cramps while it would have been so hard to get out of bed to stretch or walk it off and for whatever reason I did not get any for about 8 weeks post-op.?????

Hello @jimk849

I have been following this discussion you began. I just saw your comment about knee surgery earlier this year. Did you have physical therapy afterwards? I have Parkinson's and tend to have muscle tightness including the instep that you mentioned. In physical therapy I received some easy exercises for the instep cramping. If you call your physical therapist he/she might be able to help you with that.

@jimk849 here is a YouTube video showing some of the common stretching exercises for the foot that may help.

@johnbishop
Thanks, John, some great exercises!

Yes I had 8 weeks. Thank you