Ever feel muscle twitching after workout? You might be experiencing muscle spasms, or what we call fasciculations. Muscle twitching or muscle spasms occur when your muscles are over exhausted.
These twitches or spasms can occur in any muscle, and mostly in muscles that you’ve been using to exercise be it legs, arms, abdomen, or back. When you exercise, the nerves are excited beyond their capacity, which makes them work according to their own will, making the muscles contract involuntarily.
In most cases, muscle twitching after workout is harmless, and does not really need any treatment.
Benign or harmless muscle twitching goes away in a few days, usually without any treatment. In case this muscle twitching remains constant even after a few days, or even after doing interventions the twitching stays, consider seeing a specialist.
In this article we will talk about the causes that might be the reason of muscle twitching after workout, which are as follows:
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Causes of muscle twitching after workout
When you train for a long time, your muscles get tired as do your body and mind. This overexertion causes muscle fatigue, which is basically a term for a situation where the muscles can no longer function properly due to fatigue.
This same muscle fatigue can cause involuntary muscle contractions. Another reason could be that when you exercise, you sweat a lot. This reduces the electrolytes in your body. These electrolytes are important for keeping muscle function under control. So, when you train for a longer time or do any exercise for a long time, you may experience involuntary muscle twitching. These contractions can be felt mainly in the legs, even in the calf muscle area.
MUSCLE FATIGUE
This is the term used for muscle fatigue, in which muscles lose the strength to function properly. With weak muscles, they may begin to function abnormally, including muscle twitching after workout.
Muscle fatigue is usually a sign of fatigue and can indicate that you have exercised too much or put a lot of stress on your muscles. But with overwork there may be other causes for this muscle fatigue including infections, dehydration, depression, fibromyalgia, hypothyroidism, lack of exercise, medications, and mineral deficiencies.
Symptoms of muscle fatigue are:
- Pain.
- Muscle contraction.
- Muscle cramps.
- Muscle pain.
Muscle fatigue usually does not require any treatment and improves with hydration and maintenance of a healthy lifestyle. However, if you have trouble moving your shoulder joint, or if the muscle twitching after workout gets worse, see your doctor.
DEHYDRATION
It is important that you stay hydrated to save yourself from experiencing muscle fatigue and muscle twitching. Water, when drunk, cools the muscles preventing them from suffering from thermal damage or overheating. If you are dehydrated, your muscles overheat, causing muscle fatigue.
Furthermore, water is important for transmitting nerve impulses to tissues, including muscle tissue. When dehydration occurs, nerves begin to malfunction causing muscles twitching after workout.
MINERAL AND VITAMIN DEFICIENCY
Muscles need calcium to function and contract properly. When you have low levels of calcium in your body, a condition known as hypocalcemia, you may experience involuntary muscle twitching after workout.
But this calcium does not work on its own, it takes another mineral known as magnesium to transport this calcium to the muscles and nerves to function properly. When magnesium levels in your body drop, a condition known as hypomagnesemia, calcium can no longer travel to your nerves and muscles. This can cause your muscles to contract.
Another important factor in calcium absorption is vitamin D. If you are deficient in vitamin D, your body cannot absorb calcium, causing muscle twitching after workout.
NOT WARMING UP
Stretching regularly makes the muscle fibers longer and lengthens them so that when you exercise, they contract and more easily loosen up. You have to prepare your muscles for a proper exercise as a gentle warm-up so as to save yourself from muscle twitching after workout.
NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS
There are some neurological disorders, wherein the early onset might manifest themselves as muscle twitching, which may occur after workout. One such disorder is Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer’s disease is a neurological disease that causes brain atrophy (brain shrinkage) and brain cells die. People with Alzheimer’s tend to forget a lot of things, which eventually turns into dementia.
Symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease are:
- Muscle contractions.
- Memory problem.
- Inability to make any decisions, or to think properly.
- Mood swings.
- Apathy.
- Sleep problems.
Parkinson’s disease is another neurological disorder that causes muscle contractions. In this condition it is difficult to control one’s movements. If you have Parkinson’s disease, you may have tremors, have trouble walking, an inability to maintain balance, and have memory problems.
Symptoms of Parkinson’s disease include:
- Involuntary muscle contractions.
- Tremors.
- Bradykinesia movements slow down.
- Stiff muscles.
- Inability to balance or walk.
- Changes in handwriting: becomes smaller, which can make reading difficult.
- Sleep disturbances.
- Inability to think or concentrate on something.
INJURY
There is also a possibility that you may have over-exerted, and put a lot of stress on your muscles causing muscular injury or nerve damage. This may be one of causes of muscle twitching after workout.
Risk factors.
Not all people who exercise experience muscle twitching after workout. There are certain factors that make you more susceptible to muscle twitching after workout including:
- If you are generally ill.
- If you are overweight or obese.
- If you are consuming certain medications.
- If your age is too less or if you are older.
- If you are an athlete and haven’t been working out since sometime.
Home remedies.
You can do these simple things to try reducing the risk of your muscles twitching after a workout, as you cannot completely prevent them from occurring:
- Warm-up: as overuse or overexertion, or injury caused by them is a cause of this muscle twitching after workout, it is always better to prepare your body for exercise or workout. It is said, warming up at least five minutes prior to normal exercises is enough for your muscles to be warmed up and they are ready for workout.
- Hydration: as dehydration is also an important cause of muscle twitching after workout, it is important to keep yourself hydration. Hydration is more important if you are someone who sweats a lot. Only water isn’t enough, you should try having drinks made for workouts or sports as they contain all the necessary minerals and vitamins. Avoid any type of caffeine and alcohol after working out, as they make your body more dehydrated.
- Rest: after working out, give your body proper rest for your muscles to settle down.
- Stress management: try indulging in different meditating activities, hiking, yoga, or some light activities that make stress go away.
- Get adequate sleep.
When to see a doctor.
Muscle twitches after a workout shouldn’t last long, and must improve with you taking proper steps to warm up properly, and by increasing your overall fitness level.
In case you feel the muscle twitching doesn’t improve, or if you see below mentioned symptoms, see a doctor:
- Prolonged muscle twitching that doesn’t go away.
- Weakened muscles.
- Change or loss of sensation in the area where your muscle twitches.
- Loss or muscle size change.
Diagnosis.
If you are concerned about muscle twitching after exercise or workout, you should see your doctor. To ensure that the contractions are a natural result of exercise, the doctor will take a detailed history. Prepare yourself to answer these questions:
- Location: where exactly does it twitch?
- Duration: for how long does the twitch stay?
- Frequency: how often does this muscle twitching after workout occur?
- Onset: when was the first time you noticed your muscles twitch?
- Associating symptoms: are there any other symptoms that occur along with muscle twitching?
If your doctor is not able to diagnose your condition by these questions, they might ask you to undergo a few tests. These tests include:
- CT- computed tomography.
- MRI- magnetic resonance imaging.
- EMG- electromyography.
- Blood tests.
- Studies about nerve conduction.
Treatment.
In normal circumstances, muscle twitching should improve on its own. To give yourself a quick relief, you can try:
- Avoiding the activity that initially led to this muscle twitching.
- Proper warm up before exercise.
- By applying heat to the area of cramp.
To prevent your muscles from twitching after workout, you should increase your fitness level, and should go for proper and adequate warm-up before exercising.
Takeaway.
Most common causes of muscle twitching after workout are not warming up properly and dehydration. These causes are not serious and this muscle twitching can be prevented or the risk can be reduced by warming up and stretching your muscles before a workout, and by keeping yourself hydrated.
But you might have to get yourself checked if you see other symptoms along with muscle twitching, if this twitching remains for a long time, if twitch doesn’t get better with you taking proper steps for reducing the risk.