Charley Horses

[life_so_far]

Charley Horses#0

Posted: 8/26/05 at 6:44pm

You know those cramps in your leg (can you get them any other place... I never have.) I got a Charley Horse today and now my leg is all sore. Don't you hate them?

Also- does anyone know... does it mean that you haven't been using your muscles enough or you've been working them too hard?

Mujhse Dosti Karoge?

[ConvinceMe2]

re: Charley Horses#1

Posted: 8/26/05 at 6:54pm

They're just muscle cramps. They can occur, anywhere (I get them on the bottom of my feet, from time to time). It either happens when the muscle is overused, or not used enough and you are trying to use it for something that it is incapable of doing. They can also occur if the muscle is dehydrated.

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[Mr Roxy]

re: Charley Horses#2

Posted: 8/26/05 at 6:56pm

I always wondered why "Charley" horse ?

Why not Harry Horse or Morty Horse ? A burning question still unanswered after lo these many years. I used to have gut wrenching ones but no more

Poster Emeritus

[beacon1]

re: Charley Horses#3

Posted: 8/26/05 at 6:59pm

From World Wide Words:

[Q] “Have you ever heard of a charley horse? Where does this phrase come from?”

[A] It’s American, dating from the 1880s, and was originally baseball slang. It refers to a painful involuntary cramp in an arm or leg muscle, usually that of an athlete, as a result of a muscular strain or a blow. We’re not sure where it comes from, but there are lots of theories. There’s a persistent story that the original Charley was a lame horse of that name that pulled the roller at the White Sox ballpark in Chicago near the end of last century. The American Dialect Society’s archives reproduces a story that was printed in the Washington Post in 1907, long enough after the event that people were trying to explain something already mysterious. This piece said it referred to the pitcher Charley Radbourne, nicknamed Old Hoss, who suffered this problem during a game in the 1880s; the condition was then named by putting together his first name and the second half of his nickname. The first recorded use, again from the ADS archives, is from the Sporting Life of 1886; that and other citations suggest it was coined not long before.

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[Mr Roxy]

re: Charley Horses#4

Posted: 8/26/05 at 7:05pm

Thanks

I always wanted to know why Charley & now I know

Poster Emeritus

[Jon]

re: Charley Horses#5

Posted: 8/26/05 at 10:18pm

I used to get them in the middle of the night - and they wer caused by a draft. I sleep wiht the windo open a bit (except in the deads of winter) and i used to sleep in gym shorts. If during the night I shifted around so the blanket was not covering my legs, I'd sometimes get leg cramps. Since I started sleeping in sweat pants, I don't get them anymore.

I've also heard that vitamin and mineral deficiencies can cause them.