What's the Evidence for Treatment of Muscle Cramps?

Many relatively healthy people experience painful muscle cramps, especially nighttime cramps that involve the lower legs. To determine whether effective evidence-based treatments exist for muscle cramps, researchers prepared this review for the American Academy of Neurology. They identified 24 published studies of treatment for muscle cramps that were not caused by myopathies, pregnancy, or other identifiable medical conditions.

Stretching exercises were not beneficial in the one randomized trial in which this intervention was examined. In 13 trials, quinine derivatives were modestly effective. However, because of safety concerns, quinine is not approved for treatment of cramps in the U.S. Single controlled studies of vitamin B complex and d…