Can Tonic Water Banish Your Muscle Cramp Pain?

What do you do for muscle cramp pain? Some people use massage, and others swallow a spoonful of yellow mustard. By far the most popular preventive used to be quinine tablets. At one time, doctors would prescribe them. However, the FDA has restricted quinine to be used only for the treatment of malaria. After all, quinine can cause a range of very severe reactions, some of which can be lethal (American Journal of Hematology, May 2016). On the other hand, the agency has done nothing to limit access to tonic water. Several brands of the beverage still contain quinine. Can tonic water help ease muscle cramps?

Tonic Water for Muscle Cramp Pain Was a Game Changer:

Q. For years, I’ve suffered severe muscle spasms all over my body. One cramp would begin, and I’d stretch the muscle to try to rid myself of it. No sooner would it start to relax than another would begin. The pain would be excruciating, with tears and exhaustion following.

My doctor did not seem very concerned, although he prescribed muscle relaxers. These never did help, even when he doubled the dose and I took them three times a day. I often wondered how I could continue to live this way.

Finally, someone suggested tonic water, and it changed my life. I can’t believe the relief I’ve gotten. Each night I open a can of tonic water and let it sit because carbonation bothers me. Once it is flat, I drink the full can and haven’t suffered a cramp since.

What Does Quinine Do?

A. We used to think that the small amount of quinine (20 mg) in a glass of tonic water would be inadequate to prevent or treat muscle cramps. That’s because doctors used to prescribe 200 to 300 mg of quinine for patients with leg cramps.

Nonetheless, many readers have stories similar to yours. We now think we have figured out the explanation.

Quinine stimulates a specialized channel on cell membranes called TRPM7 (British Journal of Pharmacology, June 2012). Such transient receptor potential (TRP) channels are found on nerves throughout the body. Activating them through the TRP channels appears to reverse the nerve hyperactivity that causes muscle spasms and results in muscle cramp pain. In addition, other things can trigger TRP channels. They include vinegar, ginger, garlic and chili peppers. We suspect that tonic water has a more pleasing flavor for managing muscle cramps.

You can learn more about TRP channels and how they can be utilized to reverse muscle spasms by listening to our interview with Dr. Bruce Bean, neuroscientist and co-founder of HotShot. It is Show 1054: The Scientific Explanation for a Weird Remedy.