Can Pickle Juice Stop Muscle Cramps?

Phys Ed: Can Pickle Juice Stop Muscle Cramps?

Here's a quick summary:

Researchers at Brigham Young University recently concluded a scientific experiment on college athletes to determine whether if taken during a cramp pickle juce is more effective than water at reducing the cramps.

Athletes were worked on a bicycle with one pedal until reaching a state of mild dehydration, mild dehydration meaning a water loss of 3% of one's body weights. Cramps were then induced by shocking the tibial nerve in the athlete's ankle of which had not been peddling.

Results showed that in a mildly dehydrated state drinking just 2.5 ounces of pickle juice reduced cramps 37% faster than water. Interestingly, the pickle juice stopped the cramps in just 85 seconds which is not enough time to be adsorbed in the stomach, meaning that fluids and salt are not the immediate answer.

Experts believe that there is something smaller at work in the pickle juice, and more likely its something in the vinegar which reacts with specialized nervous system receptors through a biochemical process which signals that disrupt the nerves responsible for the cramping.

At the moment the best their best advise is to avoid muscle fatigue saying, "if muscle fatigue is the cause then train properly, building up your mileage slowly and perhaps adding strength training that focuses specifically on muscles that have cramped in the past, may help." In addition being well conditioned one should always be hydrated, and if need be carry a bottle of vinegar!

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/09/phys-ed-can-pickle-juice-stop-muscle-cramps/

USA Ultiamte College Championships

Nationals was exciting as ever. The weather was sunny and in the upper 80's all weekend. With the lack of cloud cover the heat index on the fields was in the mid 90's...almost exactly the same as in 2009 but with less wind.

Starting in the first round of the tournament on Friday the pools began to explode: 5th seed Wisconsin lost to 14th seed Michigan; 7th seed Harvard defeated 2nd seed Carelton; 17th seed UCSD defeated 1st seed Oregon. On day two 1 seed Oregon lost to 9th seed Georgia, 18th seed Iowa beat 15th seed Illinois, 10 seed UNC-W beat 7th seed Harvard completing a circle of upsets amongst the top three teams in pool C, Colorado the 3rd seed lost to 11 seed Pitt, UCSB the 13th seed defeated Florida the 4th seed (although Florida threw the game with the knowledge they had already won the pool), and finally 12 seed Call beat 5th seed Minnesota.

This resulted in a two way tie for Pool A, a three way tie for Pool B, a two way tie for pool C, and a two way tie for Pool D. Cornell won pool A with its head to head win against the other 3-1 team, Georgia. Carelton won pool B based on point differential in the running against Harvard and UNC-W by 6 points. Pitt won pool C with a head to head win over Colorado. Florida won pool D with a head to head win over Cal.

Here is some vidoe from the final game. You can get a feel for how many people were there and how the game went.