Quinine has gone the way of leeches, mercury and opium

There are some treatments that we just don’t use any more.

Leeches used to be applied to people when we thought they had “too much blood”, for instance.

Elsewhere, doctors gave patients mercury tablets to help – I use the term loosely – with a variety of ailments.

And opium was prescribed to send babies off to sleep.

I’ve had a few patients experience leg cramps in the past few weeks, and a couple asked about quinine.

But I’m afraid that’s going the way of leeches, too. Quinine can be helpful as an anti-malarial drug – indeed, that’s why it became popular.

It also became useful in stopping leg cramps.

There are potential side effects though. Quinine can cause a serious blood disorder, so for something like leg cramps we don’t prescribe it as much as we once did.

That’s not a great deal of comfort to those who experience leg cramps, admittedly.

They strike in the dead of night and can be painful enough to keep you awake for hours.

Leg cramps usually affect the calf, but we’re not sure why they appear.

It’s thought that the muscle, lying in a shortened position in bed, takes it upon itself to shorten itself even further.

Some things make them more likely to happen – taking medicines such as water tablets, salbutamol (found in inhalers) and statins, for instance.

Over-exercise or lack of water may do it, or an imbalance of salts. Those with kidney problems, or who are pregnant, can be prone to them.

If you get an attack, then some people find grabbing the foot and stretching the calf out can help.

Painkillers don’t usually help as the pain eases by the time they kick in, but if the muscle is sore afterwards then paracetamol might help.

Stretching exercises are worth a try. The evidence is a bit sketchy but they sometimes seem to help and the worst that can happen is you’ll have nice stretched muscles.

Stand facing a wall at a distance of about two feet.

Put your hands against the wall and keep your feet flat on the ground while gently leaning forward. You should feel your calf stretching.

Alternatively you can stand backwards facing on a step, like an Olympic diver. Try to move your heels up and down. Make sure you keep a grip of the banister, though.