Table 3.
Reported interventions and perceived effectiveness
| Intervention | Number of users | Perceived effectiveness | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Useless | A little help | Quite helpful | Very helpful | 100% effective | Unrated | ||
| During cramp to reduce pain | |||||||
| Getting out of bed to stand or walk* | 77 | 4 | 21 | 19 | 27 | 5 | 1 |
| Stretching calf* | 75 | 20 | 22 | 20 | 12 | 1 | |
| Massage* | 69 | 6 | 42 | 13 | 7 | 1 | |
| Heat application | 4 | 3 | 1 | ||||
| Running on the spot | 1 | 1 | |||||
| To prevent cramp | |||||||
| Magnesium | 46 | 12 | 16 | 11 | 5 | 2 | |
| Water, drinking more* | 36 | 11 | 19 | 5 | 1 | ||
| Stretching calf during day or before bed* | 24 | 7 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Massage during day* | 21 | 5 | 11 | 5 | |||
| Quinine | 18 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 2 | |
| Crampeze tablet/capsule | 13 | 5 | 6 | 2 | |||
| Tonic water | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | |||
| Gatorade/poweraid | 4 | 1 | 3 | ||||
| Salt | 3 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| Crampeze cream | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Vitamin B | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Akineton (biperiden) | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Hamstring stretching | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Lyrica (pregabalin) | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Schuessler tissue salts (homeopathic preparation) | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Camphor in bed | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Cramp away (homeopathic preparation) | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Exercise and stretching with personal trainer | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Filtered water | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Homeopathic drops containing ginkgo | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Iron tablets | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Japanese green tea | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Acupuncture | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Calcium | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Epsom salt bath | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Glucosamine | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Minerals | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Panadol osteo | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Tegretol (carbamazepine) | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Shaking of legs during shower | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Aspirin | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Fish oil | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Mandopar (levodopa and benserazide)) | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Multi vitamins | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Potassium | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Vitamin E | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Vitamins | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Zinc | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Bananas | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Oranges | 1 | 1 | |||||
*Participants were asked whether they had tried interventions identified with an asterisk. Non-asterisked interventions were identified by participants when asked whether they had tried any other interventions
Interventions are ordered from most to least commonly reported. Where a particular treatment is reported as commonly as another, interventions are ordered from perceived most to least effective, then in alphabetical order.