It is a painful contraction or spasm of the calf muscle or hamstring. I, for one, get them so bad in my toes that it feels like my toes are being torn apart. These cramps will usually hit me at night when I'm asleep. They will wake me up of course, and I will have to walk them out. These muscle cramps are caused by dehydration of fluids in these muscles and also by not drinking enough fluids. This is the main reason why the elderly and pregnant woman will suffer from these cramps.

There are different causes to muscle cramps. Chemical deficiencies or imbalances or severe lack of electrolytes may cause these things to happen. Scientists have run studies on these and found that drinking pickle juice can help stop you from getting these cramps. If you can stomach this pickle juice because of all the salt you might become to liking the taste and knowing that this will help.

Pickle juice has salt, calcium chloride, and vinegar. These are similar to some sport drinks with one difference: pickles have acetic acid and your sport drinks have citric acid. So the next time you have a jar of empty pickles keep the juice to drink over time, and don't just throw it out.

A cucumber, which is the main ingredient for pickles, was first brought to the New World by Christopher Columbus. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, just to name a few, were pickle enthusiasts.

Today you have all kinds of pickle makers on the market; you also have all kinds of ladies making all different kinds of pickles. There are the regular kinds and there are the kosher pickles, or you might find someone that will make a spicy flavored pickle.

But sometimes these muscles will become so tight that if you touch the spot on your skin it feels like there is a fire under the surface. When this happens you will find yourself doing almost anything to make it go away. When I was pregnant I would get these in my legs, and I would even get into the bath tub and run the hottest water. I could stand on my legs to help these muscles relax. Most of the time it helped, and I also had to walk around afterwards.