I vaguely understand the chemical mechanism responsible for charlie horses at the cellular level, but my question is why you can walk around, flex/extend your leg and feet, contract and shorten your calf muscle all day, but if you hit that certain spot or sometimes out of nowhere, your calf will go rogue and seize up on its own and HURT BAD. Isn’t it the same muscle being used?
Or for me, the same happens in my toe. I can point it gently and relax it, but if I point it a certain way, my whole foot will twist up on its own and be extremely painful, not at the joints, but in the muscles I was just using a moment ago *without* pain.
Basically, why *doesn’t* my leg hurt when I use it but when it uses itself, it hurts like hell?
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The difference is the cause of the contraction. When you normally contract your muscles, it’s voluntary and in a way that the muscle can go. Charlie horses are usually caused by a negative stimulus. So if you’re dehydrated, your muscle will contract involuntarily giving you a Charlie horse because when the muscle contracted, it didn’t have enough water to contract smoothly. Most of the time Charlie horses come from something like intense workouts, long distance running, or good ol fashioned dehydration. It’s your bodies way of telling you something ain’t right
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