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Email a friendSoap Works for Card Player's Cramps
Newspaper Columns, Herb & Home Remedy Q&A August 13, 2007
Q. I read your column about using soap in the bed for leg cramps. It really works. My husband had leg cramps for years since he is a fisherman and on his feet 18 hours a day. They brought tears to his eyes, although he is very stoic. He’s had no more leg cramps since we started putting soap under the bottom sheet.
We were playing cards the other night and he got cramps in his hands, holding the cards, as he sometimes does. I got a bar of soap and put it in his hand. Within a minute the pain subsided. He held the bar for about 10 minutes and the cramp never came back. Now we keep a bar of soap near where we play cards.
A. Though many people have told us of their success using soap under the bottom sheet to ward off nighttime leg cramps, this is the first we have heard of using soap to keep away hand cramps.
Joe Graedon is a pharmacologist. Teresa Graedon holds a doctorate in medical anthropology and is a nutrition expert. Their syndicated radio show can be heard on public radio. In their column, Joe and Teresa Graedon answer letters from readers. Write to them in care of this newspaper or e-mail them via their Web site: www.PeoplesPharmacy.com.
© 2007 King Features Syndicate, Inc.
Reader Comments
I've had great success with the Ivory-soap-under-the-sheet "trick" for my restless leg syndrome. Not only do I use it in bed, Ivory soap also goes to the movies with me and accompanies me on long car and plane trips -- anywhere I've ever experienced that uncomfortable creepy feeling of restless legs. There's a bar under my computer desk, even as I type this.
Posted by: Lee | August 17, 2007 7:01 AM
It seemed totally crazy that a simple bar of bath soap would help me with the chronic muscle pain I experience.
For years I have had muscle pain that has gotten worse, and I actively searched for a solution. Read many articles and visited several doctors looking for relief.
An older woman that was in the hospital my daughter-in-law works at told her about the soap solution. It honestly works!!! I have cramping in my hips, feet, ankles rib cage, arms and neck... and the pain travels. It seems so silly to keep that bar of soap around me all the time. But it works!!!
Change your soap out every couple of weeks to really see improvement. Now if I could figure out what is causing the cramps my life would be greatly improved!!! Try it. It helps!!!
Posted by: Valari R. | August 22, 2007 3:56 PM
I tried the soap idea for leg cramps and leg/foot charley horses that I've been having almost nightly. I put two, unwrapped, travel-sized bars of soap (don't know the brand) under the sheet at the level where my knees would lie (one on each side of my body). I did this 5 nights ago and have had 5 cramp-free nights in a row! I can't remember the last time this happened. I really don't feel the thin bars of soap when lying down--it's very comfortable.
Posted by: Julien | August 24, 2007 11:57 AM