CRAMP.
This term is usually applied to the intensely painful tonic spasm which affects the leg or thigh muscles. Smart friction may be employed over the contracted muscle, and, by a voluntary effort, the opposing muscles may be thrown into firm and prolonged action, which soon relieves the spasm. By tying an elastic band, like Esmarch's, tightly round the thigh sometimes the cramp yields at once. If it occurs when in the recumbent position, immediate relief may often be obtained by assuming the upright posture, or by firmly pressing the foot against the bottom rail of the bed post. Often the condition is the result of over-fatigue of the affected muscles, which must be met by rest, and where toxamia, owing to deficient elimination of effete products, is the cause, agents like Salicylates and Massage are beneficial.
For the craft-spasms, sec under Writer's Cramp, &c. See also Inter mittent Claudication and Tetany.
Cramp often affects the muscles of the swimmer in the water, but, con trary to the universally accepted opinion, it is seldom if ever serious. The
writer in his " Practice of Medicine " (vol. p. 25o) has shown that the so-called cramp which often terminates the swimmer's existence has nothing in common with this condition; it is of the opposite nature, being due to a general paralysis showing itself suddenly in the total inhibition of all voluntary motion akin to that which sometimes seizes public speakers, and it is identical with " stage fright." The reason why this affection has hitherto been believed to be the result of a tonic muscular contraction is probably due to the fact that few who have been seized with it have survived to tell their tale or explain their sensations. The writer speaks from positive personal experience. It is beyond the reach of any treatment, though the condition will rapidly pass off once the swimmer has been rescued from his perilous helplessness.