Do Compression Socks Help with Leg Cramps?
Published
January 23 2025
Getting painful muscle spasms or contractions in the leg muscles, especially the thigh, calf, or foot is known as leg cramps. These contractions cause discomfort, tightness, and intense pain in the leg area, lasting anywhere from seconds to minutes. While they are often harmless, they are uncomfortable to experience.
What Causes Leg Cramps?
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Blood Flow Issues
Improper blood circulation in your legs and uncomfortable leg cramps go hand in hand. Long flights or a desk job can do that to you because of the lack of leg movement. No leg movement means the blood is not given a proper passage for circulation, pooling around the ankles mostly, leading to swelling and cramping.
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Lack of Hydration
Athletes and runners are at a high risk of dehydration due to excessive physical exertion. Dehydration in athletes happens due to the excessive use of their muscles. When this is mixed with perspiration, the risk of leg cramping increases.
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Ageing
Our veins, nerves, and muscles also get old as we age. Your brain slowly loses muscle movement control, causing involuntary muscle contractions and cramping. As you age, you also begin developing medical conditions that may damage your vein walls, leading to more leg cramps.
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Muscle Overuse
Straining your legs by overworking your leg muscles through activities such as long runs or long walks can lead to cramps. People who have standing jobs like nurses or doctors are also at high risk of putting themselves through muscle fatigue.
Another much lesser-known reason for muscle fatigue can also be due to a lack of stretching before a workout or any physical activity, especially when you don’t frequently work out. Putting your muscles through a sudden physical activity without properly warming them up may also lead to leg cramps.
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Some Medical Conditions
Leg cramps that are caused as symptoms of any underlying medical conditions are known as secondary leg cramps. Bacterial infection, liver disease, or some neurological conditions can also be a reason behind your leg cramps. In such cases, it’s important to get a doctor involved.
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Pregnancy
Lastly, even pregnancy can be another major reason behind leg cramps. In fact, the CDC even reports that pregnant women are five times at high risk of developing a blood clot as compared to anyone else.

Compression Socks and Leg Cramps: Do Compression Socks Help with Leg Cramps?
While you can relieve leg cramping by following basic tips like maintaining your hydration levels, balancing your electrolytes, massaging, and stretching before exercising, they are short-term solutions.
Here’s when compression socks will help:
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Better Blood Circulation
Lack of proper blood circulation is a cause of leg cramps. You can solve this with compression socks.
Compression socks gently squeeze your legs. This boosts blood flow and helps it travel through your veins. Smooth blood flow means a healthy dose of oxygen and nutrients to your muscles, easing the cramps.
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Prevent Swollen Legs
A major chunk of your day spent standing or sitting means experiencing swelling in your legs that leads to cramps. Compression socks can be of great help! They work by applying the right amount of pressure, encouraging the removal of extra fluid build-up in your leg. With reduced swelling, your legs will feel lighter, more comfortable, and far less prone to cramping.
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Maintain Muscle Alignment
Improper muscle alignment can occur due to muscle exertion, causing leg cramps. Compression socks can put gentle pressure on these overfatigued leg muscles. This helps with excess strain by maintaining muscle alignment for quick relief from leg cramps.
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Speedy Post-Workout Recovery
Ever feel like your muscles are protesting after a good workout, leaving you sore and stiff? Compression socks might just be the recovery hack you need. These snug socks work their magic by easing delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS), helping your body clear out waste like lactic acid more efficiently.
The result? Faster recovery, less discomfort, and fewer cramps, so you can keep moving without skipping a beat.
Copper Compression Socks for Leg Cramps — Are They Better?
Compression socks are great for leg cramps in the long run. But there’s something better than normal compression socks — copper compression socks!
- Anti-Inflammatory: Naturally anti-inflammatory in nature, copper is believed to contain properties that help reduce leg swelling, proving to be useful for people who experience frequent leg cramps.
- Antimicrobial: Copper-infused fibres have natural antimicrobial properties that control the growth of odour-causing bacteria. Hence, with copper compression socks you can toss out the worries of an unhygienic bacterial breeding ground, especially for individuals wearing socks for a longer duration.
Why Choose Copper Clothing for Your Leg Cramps?
Copper Clothing is known to make copper-infused compression socks that will help you tackle leg cramps without having to worry about hygiene. With our patented copper-infused technology, you can take benefits of a natural, safe, non-chemical, and environmentally-friendly solution!
Explore our Copper Compression Socks range now!
Shop NowFAQs
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Compression socks and muscle twitching – can they help me with random muscle twitches?
Muscle twitches are unexpected little body spasms that often pop up after intense activity or when you're dehydrated. While the reason for muscle twitching is unknown, we sure do know that compression socks have helped people with it. Their snug fit works wonders by reducing swelling, improving blood flow, and easing the tired, achy feeling in your legs.
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Do compression socks help with leg cramps at night?
If you often wake up in the middle of the night with a sharp leg cramp compression socks can help. By supporting your lower limbs and boosting blood circulation while you sleep, they ease discomfort. This extra support can greatly reduce the chances of nighttime cramps disrupting your sleep.