The sudden intensive pain due to leg cramps in the night affects many people which takes away their sleep. People are awakened due to the pain in the legs which includes heavy contractions in the calf muscles as well as in the foot muscles. The leg cramps that occur at nighttime are very real and are spasms of the muscles. Leg cramps are known as painful muscle contractions that occur involuntarily. If the muscle remains in a contracted stage, it leads to the generation of pain. At this stage, the calf muscle will become very hard to the touch like concrete. The extent of  the hardness will determine the  power of the cramp.

Research studies have revealed that the reason for the calf muscles to cramp is enhanced electrical activity. In some situations, the cramps in calf muscles might be because of a vitamin deficiency and an imbalance in fluids. Leg cramps occur in many people who perform intensive training. The area of the leg where the cramps occur are the calf muscles. The calf muscles that are affected in the leg due to leg cramps are the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles.

Though the exact reasons for the leg cramps are not yet established, there are a few possible reasons for the occurrence of leg cramps: low levels of potassium and sodium, muscle fatigue, very tight muscles, low levels of carbohydrates, changed neuromuscular control, poor conditioning, and dehydration.

The leg cramps normally will disappear without any treatment. But the healing process is enhanced by stretching and massaging the muscle that experienced cramps, the activity which led to the cramps is stopped, and the joint is placed in a stretched manner until the cramps have ceased. To avoid leg cramps, it is necessary to perform some warm-up exercises before doing exercise, build fitness in the body, stretching after the exercises, and stretching the hamstring and quadriceps muscles.