Pickle juice found to ease muscle cramps

Those muscle cramps that get in the way of performance can be reduced by pickle juice according to a researcher, in an easy process to alleviate pain and tenderness that cause problems in sports and exercise.

Research done by  Kevin C. Miller, a North Dakota State University professor and certified athletic trainer and assistant professor of health, nutrition and exercise science investigated pickle juice and found extremely small amounts can shorten the duration of athlete's cramps.   He found this was true in 25 percent of subjects in his research study.

In previous research, Dr. Miller found that 25 percent of certified athletic trainers surveyed use extremely small amounts of pickle juice to shorten the duration of athletes’ cramps, under the assumption that the pickle juice replenishes salt and fluids lost to sweat.

What really causes the cramps and how to relieve them quickly are some of the areas of scientific study. Miller and researchers at Brigham Young University studied healthy male college students in an exercise lab. Subjects in the study bicycled in 30-minute sessions to achieve mild dehydration. The tibial nerve in the men’s ankles was then stimulated, which causes a muscle in the big toe to cramp. When subjects drank nothing, the subjects’ cramps lasted two-and-half minutes on average.After resting, cramps were induced again, but this time, men in the study immediately drank 2.5 ounces of deionized water or they drank pickle juice strained from a jar of dill pickles in a double-blind fashion. Blood samples were taken before and after the men drank the fluids to see if blood sodium, potassium, magnesium, or calcium levels changed after drinking.

Study results show that pickle juice relieved the cramps about 45 percent faster than if the men drank no fluids and about 37 percent faster than those who drank water. “Even more interesting,” says Miller, “is that study results showed there were no significant changes in the blood following ingestion of either water or of pickle juice.”

Dr. Miller’s research has shown that mild dehydration may not be the culprit that causes muscle cramping. Since the pickle juice used in the studies did not have time to leave the men’s stomachs during the experiment, the pickle juice would not have had enough time to replenish lost fluids and salt in affected muscles.

The research conducted by Miller and his team leads to the theory that another mechanism causes such cramping and the pickle juice helps stop that. Miller says the pickle juice may affect nervous system receptors that send out signals that then disrupt the muscle cramping. “

The relief of cramping by pickle juice likely represents a neurological phenomenon rather than a metabolic one,” says Miller, whose research has been published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, in the Journal of Athletic Training, Muscle and Nerve, and in Athletic Therapy Today.

What does Miller suggest for athletes?  Well first talk to your doctor before trying pickle juice, especially because of hypertension that is impacted by salt.  He recommends stretching the muscle first, but a small amount of pickle juice might also help, depending on what the doctor says and whether a person is healthy enough to use it.

Pickles anyone?  It's time for that afternoon run and who wants to have those cramps afterward.