FLEXPharma says it knows how to stop muscle cramps

Cramp: an athlete's enemy

It's a familiar sight when professional football matches go into extra-time in the knock-out phases of competitions: players slumping to the turf, holding their calves or thighs, and pleading for help from teammates to stretch out the muscle cramps that are stopping them carrying on.

And it's the same whenever athletes, professional or amateur, are pushing themselves to the limits... cramp can strike and put an end to a competitor's bid for glory. 

Muscle cramps aren't caused by dehydration or lack of salts

The standard thinking as to the cause of muscle cramps is that they occur due to any of a lack of fluid, an imbalance of electrolytes in the body or a build-up of lactic acid, leading to the muscles playing up. 

But there's now a healthy body of research that shows that's not the case; hence why rehydration drinks, bananas and stretching don't work.

According to South African doctor Martin Schwellnus, who looked at the problem in the 90s, the reason for the cramping is a break down in communication between the muscle and the spine. When you're fatigued, the signal to relax the muscle doesn't work properly, meaning the muscle ends up trying to contract constantly.

FLEXPharma

A US start-up, FLEXPharma, founded by Nobel prize-winner neuroscientist Rod MacKinnon and Harvard neurobiology professor Bruce Bean, reckons this is indeed the real reason why cramping happens. And they've released a product that they say stops muscle cramps happening: Hot Shot. 

According to FLEXPharma: "New research has shown that cramps and spasms do not originate in the muscle itself, but are caused instead by a neural mechanism: excessive firing of the motor neurons in the spinal cord that control muscle contraction."

The company's flagship product, "address muscle cramps and spasms by halting repetitive firing of the motor neurons".

Trigger nerves to stop cramps

As they looked into why cramps happen, Bean and Mackinnon noticed that some studies had shown that drinking pickle juice, or eating mustard appeared to help prevent cramps. And with their neurological knowledge they knew that these foodstuffs contain substances, ion-channel activators, that trigger nerves in the digestive system - that's why they feel hot, by triggering a nervous response. They figured that this nervous response could be calming nerves elsewhere in the body, meaning such substances could help stop the excessive motor neurone firing that causes cramp. 

Their research led them to create a drink made out of stronger ion-activators, that in their lab they showed could prevent muscle cramps.

MacKinnon, talking to Outside magazine, said they've tested the supplement in randomised, controlled studies and it "reliably raises the threshold at which athletes cramp. Take it before your event and the probability that you’re going to cramp is much lower.” 

Hot and pungent anti-cramp supplement

The supplement, Hot Shot isn't a sweet and tasty energy gel - “It’s a mix of hot and pungent,” MacKinnon says. “That’s what makes it work.”

The company's Twitter timeline is full of endorsements from athletes claiming it's improved their performances. And US Olympic marathon runners Shalane Flanagan and Amy Cragg (Who finished 6th and 9th respectively) both endorsed the product before heading to Rio. 

As far as we know it hasn't been adopted in the world of European football yet... but if the players' are still cramp-free heading into the 117th minute of extra-time in a Champions League semi-final this year...