Cause of Muscle Twitching in Quads from Lifting Weights
A neurologist explains exactly what makes the quad muscles twitch after a workout of squats, deads or whatever leg workouts you do.
You trashed your quads in the gym and now they’re twitching like mad; what’s going on here? Is this normal?
“Many people experience an annoying, random or rhythmic twitching of the large thigh muscles of the leg called the quadriceps,” says Anthony P. Geraci, MD, associate professor of neurology at Donald & Barbara Zucker School of Medicine in New York.
“These twitches, also named fasciculations, can occur in many muscles throughout the body, and are particularly noticeable in some people after exercise.”
Dr. Geraci says that during exercise, “the muscle uses glucose and oxygen from the blood as its energy source.
“After a certain amount of time, say 20 minutes, the muscle must turn to other sources of energy as its requirements go up, but the fuel of available glucose goes down.
“This is when the muscle metabolizes fats in the body to use as fuel, leading to a buildup in the cell of lactic acid.”
What weightlifting enthusiast hasn’t heard of lactic acid?
Dr. Geraci continues, “As lactic acid builds up in the muscle, a chain of events takes place that temporarily ‘injures’ the muscle cell and destabilizes its cell membrane.
“Normally, the muscle membrane is kept stable by the single nerve fiber attached to it.
“However, if the chemical soup within the muscle is temporarily toxic to the membrane, it will set off an electrical impulse, referred to as depolarization. This is the basic process that leads to muscle fiber contraction.
“During the resting phase after exercise, the muscle cleanses itself of the lactic acid and other free radical metabolites (bad molecules that destabilize the membrane) and within time the twitches subside.”
So there’s your explanation for what causes your quads to twitch after lifting weights.
But what if the twitching persists long after your weightlifting session?
Dr. Geraci says that the twitching is a “manifestation of a destabilized muscle fiber membrane.
Remember, each muscle has tens of thousands of muscle fibers, so if a few have unstable membranes that contract and cause a twitch, there will be no consequence to strength or muscle health.”
So as long as next leg workout, you can get under that heavy barbell and squat as usual, or execute your typical deadlifts, leg presses or single-leg dumbbell step-ups, there is nothing to worry about.
Twitching, even in one specific group such as the quads, during or after lifting weights can also be caused by something you’re drinking before, during or after the workout that contains caffeine.
Dr. Geraci says that caffeine can cause twitching. Other causes are stress and many prescription drugs.
“The bottom line is that twitches, particularly in young persons who are active and exercising, are almost NEVER a sign of a serious neurological condition – just a sign that you are using you muscles the way they were meant to be used!”
Dr. Geraci is also the director of neuromuscular medicine at Northwell Health in New York.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
Perceived Weakness vs. ALS Weakness: Telling the Difference
A neurologist explains in detail how to tell perceived weakness from ALS weakness.
Is there a way to tell the difference between perceived weakness and weakness from ALS?
“Imagine: You just completed your workout at the gym and you feel that you couldn’t bench press the amount you are accustomed to,” says Anthony P. Geraci, MD, associate professor of neurology at Donald & Barbara Zucker School of Medicine in New York.
“You wonder about it and if you might be weak on that day; maybe you are just tired. This is perceived weakness, a very subjective measure of strength.
“It is very important to understand that the strength of our muscles varies due to a variety of variables on any particular day or time.”
Perceived weakness also often comes in the form of how a muscle group “feels” at rest.
A person may feel that the muscle group is weak and begin fearing ALS.
But the perception of weakness disappears the minute they must pick up heavy boxes from the garage.
But the perception of weakness disappears the minute they must pick up heavy boxes from the garage.
The minute they sit before the computer, they start perceiving weakness and fearing ALS.
Why the ALS fear? Because this is the channel that their mind gets tuned into.
“Perceived weakness is NOT true weakness,” says Dr. Geraci. A healthy person may feel a weakness in their leg when sitting before the TV.
The perceived weakness disappears when they find themselves dashing down the street after their dog.
Dr. Geraci explains, “True weakness can only be identified by two means: The first is by identifying the weakness in one limb or part of one limb that leads to functional impairment.
“In other words, a weak hand that drops objects and gives you trouble buttoning your shirt.”
In other words, clinical weakness is exhibited by having trouble doing simple things like blow-drying your hair or hanging up clothes, opening a car door or removing a pot roast from the oven, as opposed to bench pressing 195 pounds this week when last week you pressed 205.
“The second is by having a neurologist objectively determine weakness in a group of muscles,” continues Dr. Geraci.
“Weakness from ALS always is accompanied by atrophy of muscles, and objective findings that only a physician can identify.”
When worried people find this out, they become prone to inspecting the body part in question for signs of atrophy.
They decide on what atrophy must look like, that a “dent” in the calve must absolutely mean muscle atrophy.
This is the mind playing tricks!
We’ve all seen true muscle atrophy; anybody who uses a wheelchair exhibits noticeable atrophy in their legs.
Or, the person with one side of their body mobility-impaired (stroke, cerebral palsy) has very visible muscle atrophy on that side.
But back to perceived weakness…
“In the age of the Internet, it is very easy for people to have a twitch here and there, and a couple of days of bad workouts at the gym followed by an Internet search that spits out ALS as the answer to their symptoms,” says Dr. Geraci.
“My advice is this: First, ALS is very rare, and second, try turning the symptoms around and looking at them as a manifestation of the normal state of affairs in the body you are exercising.”
If you haven’t been exercising, apply this advice to household duties such as carrying the vacuum cleaner up the stairs, carrying children or running down the staircase.
“If you are worried about having ALS, consider the above and ask yourself which group you fit into and I’ll be willing to bet you’ll come to the most likely conclusion: You are just fine.”
Dr. Geraci is also the director of neuromuscular medicine at Northwell Health in New York.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer. \
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Top image: Shutterstock/Huntstock.com
Why the Room Gets Black & You Feel Dizzy when Standing Up
When you rise after sitting for a while, do you feel faint or like the room is blacking out?
This is called syncope or orthostatic hypotension.
“It is a result of a drop in blood pressure after standing,” says Robert M. Davidson, MD, a cardiologist with SignatureMD.
“It is particularly likely if your blood pressure is usually on the low side,” adds Dr. Davidson. My blood pressure is typically low, sometimes just under 100 over the low 60s or even high 50s.
Usually it comes in at something like 105 over 67. I sometimes experience that blacking out sensation after rising from being seated for a while.
“The easiest way to prevent it is to get up slowly, or to exercise your legs (pushing up on the floor) while sitting before standing,” says Dr. Davidson.
I’ve noticed that when I must quickly and unexpectedly rise from a chair to tend to something, there is no blacking out or faint feeling whatsoever. Getting up in transitory steps will prevent the problem.
Another way to prevent blacking out from standing is to, for 30 seconds: hold tightly clenched fists; or press the palms together tightly; or press the inner thighs together tightly. This will raise blood pressure.
My mother had a unique kind of orthostatic hypotension following a pacemaker implant.
The blacking out did not occur immediately after she rose from a seated position.
The event would start unfolding usually about a minute after she was up and about, sometimes a few minutes.
Not only that, but unlike typical orthostatic hypotension, once it started unfolding, it could not be reversed by simply sticking it out while standing still.
In other words, people who feel faint or like everything is blacking out, after rising, typically stand still and lean on something to let the experience run its course.
After several moments, everything clears up and they resume walking.
In my mother’s case, this didn’t happen. She’d lose consciousness. This was discovered before she had a chance to take a hard fall to the floor. So while she suffered from this problem, I had to shadow her to prevent the fall.
Since the orthostatic hypotension would not resolve while simply holding my mother up (she’d instead lose consciousness), I had to “sink” her (from behind) to the floor on her fanny.
A chair was not a viable option because her altered mentation (from the blood pressure drop’s diminished oxygen to her brain) rendered her incapable of “aiming” her butt into the chair, and her legs were usually stiffened up, which made it very cumbersome for me to steer her butt into the nearest chair.
So, wherever we were when the passing out began to take grip, I sunk her to the floor or ground (e.g., inside Walmart, outside on sidewalk).
Only when my mother was on the floor and I leaned her back against my arms and legs, would the orthostatic hypertension begin reversing.
As mentioned, the blood pressure drop impaired her reasoning, rendering her incapable of having the mental faculties to realize that she had to sit down as quickly as possible.
So she’d continue walking about, not realizing that as seconds passed, she was becoming increasingly clumsy, bumping into things, off-balance and losing her wits.
The doctors involved in her cardiac care had no solution to this and no explanations. Amazingly, the problem eventually cleared up spontaneously.
That all aside, if you experience blacking out or faintness soon after rising from a seated position, and it clears up while you wait it out, you have nothing to worry about.
Dr. Davidson is with the Division of Cardiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, and has been practicing for 30+ years. Areas of specialty include coronary artery disease, heart attack and palpitations.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
Can ALS Be Diagnosed with an EMG Test Alone?
Are you suffering from the agony of thinking you might have ALS, but have not had an EMG test?
When a doctor suspects that a patient might have ALS, the patient is told they should have an EMG done.
Many people who experience symptoms that make them think of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis wonder just how soon an EMG can detect this ruthless disease.
Another name for this test is the electromyograph.
So how soon can an EMG detect ALS?
“If a patient has symptoms from ALS, then a proper EMG will be able to detect abnormalities,” says Michael Cartwright, MD, a board certified neurologist at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston Salem, NC.
“However, this requires that the correct muscles be tested and the EMG be performed by a physician with experience assessing for ALS.”
Some neurologists specialize in EMG testing.
What many people do not know is that this fatal neurological disorder is a clinical diagnosis.
This means that the physician makes the diagnosis based on what he or she observes in the clinical setting with the patient.
Dr. Cartwright explains, “An EMG is used to exclude other diseases, and there are certain patterns of EMG change seen with ALS. But EMG alone does not make the diagnosis of ALS.”
Wow, this could explain why so many patients fear that they were misdiagnosed with BFS (benign fasciculation syndrome) — believing they actually have amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
So though the EMG is an important tool…it unfortunately isn’t definitive enough to reveal that a patient definitely has ALS.
As a matter of fact, the site for Massachusetts General Hospital Neurology states:
“The EMG may not clearly identify a problem early on in the disease. Sometimes, it must be repeated at a later time.”
Dr. Cartwright treats numerous conditions including ALS, brachial plexus injuries, hereditary neuropathies, peripheral neuropathy, peripheral nerve injury and polymyositis.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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Top image: Shutterstock/Eliyahu Ungar-Sargon
Source: massgeneral.org/als/patienteducation/ALSelectromyography.aspx
Can Muscle Twitching from Lifting Weights Mean a Disease?
If you’ve noticed that lifting weights triggers muscle twitching in the muscles you worked, find out if you should be worried about this.
So you go into the gym and lift weights hard, feeling like a beast after the workout, only to be reduced to a bundle of nerves because the muscle you worked won’t stop twitching.
This happens quite often following a weight training session, and the twitching may even occur in between sets.
Weightlifting can cause any muscle to twitch.
Whatever muscles can get exercised are capable of twitching following the workout.
“If the same area is the only site twitching, and that seems to occur during or after bench pressing weights (or whatever exercise you performed, such as squats, deadlifts, bent-over dumbbell rows or biceps curls), then it is likely the bench press movement is causing the twitching,” explains Michael Cartwright, MD, a board certified neurologist at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston Salem, NC.
Muscle twitching is also called fasciculations. Dr. Cartwright adds, “Fasciculations are generated from an unstable motor neuron firing sporadically.
“When a muscle is exercised, the motor neuron connection can become a little more unstable and fascics can occur.”
This instability is benign, though it can be annoying. Think of the fascics as your muscles’ way of massaging themselves after an intense weightlifting session.
You’ll also want to review your water intake. Is it adequate during your workout? How about after?
Dehydration can make muscles, particularly fatigued ones from strength training, more likely to twitch.
Dr. Cartwright treats numerous conditions including ALS, brachial plexus injuries, hereditary neuropathies, peripheral neuropathy, peripheral nerve injury and polymyositis.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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Top image: Shutterstock/KDdesignphoto
Beeturia Q & A: Worried About Beets in Urine and Stools?
A Gastroenterologist Answers Questions About Beeturia
If what you see in the toilet after eating beets alarms you, here are some responses from Mervyn D. Danilewitz, MD, FACG, a board certified gastroenterologist based in Philadelphia, PA.
Just how much beet juice can end up in the toilet after drinking a glass?
Dr. Danilewitz says that the whole glass can end up in the toilet, in the sense that “The beetroot pigment called betanin is responsible for the red coloring in urine and feces,” he explains.
“Some people cannot break the pigment down and this results in excretion of the pigment in urine and feces.
“The rest of the beetroot is digested and no nutrients should be lost. The beetroot red pigment is indigestible.”
Freepik.com
Can beets make stools appear black?
“The more beets that are eaten, the darker the red coloring will be in urine and feces,” says Dr. Danilewitz.
“This coloring may look black, but beetroot should not cause black stools.”
Viewing your “black” poops under magnification will reveal the very dark purple in the event of having eaten a large volume of this ultra-healthful vegetable.
How long can beeturia last?
“Beeturia (urine) usually lasts for 48 hours, but this varies in people who have slow or a faster rate of passing feces.
“It also depends on the amount of fluids one drinks. It has nothing to do with malabsorption or iron absorption.”
More than once, my own beeturia has lasted four to five days, appearing with my stools.
Now, if these situations worry you, then you should keep track of when you eat beets or beet juice and how much, even if it’s just small amounts in a salad.
This highly pigmented vegetable is extremely nutrient dense and much under-rated for its antioxidant properties.
Dr. Danilewitz is board certified in both gastroenterology and internal medicine, and has been in practice for over 40 years.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
Top image: Shutterstock/Africa Studio
Can Sudden Severe Headache Be a Transient Ischemic Attack?
Find out how likely a sudden severe headache might be a TIA: transient ischemic attack.
If you get a sudden severe headache, you might wonder if this might be a transient ischemic attack (TIA).
A TIA is a mini stroke, and stroke medicine falls under the specialty of neurology, since strokes involve the brain.
“Perhaps the only reassuring measure to afford a patient some mental relief is to know that headache, especially when severe, is not routinely a symptom of a transient ischemic attack (TIA),” explains Michael Sellman, MD, neurology division chief with the Greater Baltimore Medical Center’s Center for Neurology.
“TIA in layman’s terms connotes the brief absence of blood flow to the brain,” continues Dr. Sellman.
“So for example, if there is not enough blood to our motor cortex or speech centers, a patient would then have symptoms of loss of strength or loss of speech.”
Other symptoms of a transient ischemic attack, that are far more likely than a headache, are as follows:
• Sudden onset double vision or other visual disturbance
• Confusion or cognitive impairment
• Slurred speech or difficulty speaking
• Trouble understanding speech
• Drooping on one side of the face
• Numbness or tingling on one side of the face
• Feeling your body pulling to one side
• One sided body weakness or numbness
• Paralysis on one side of the body
• Trouble swallowing
Dr. Sellman emphasizes that a headache, especially a severe one, “is not routinely a symptom of absence of blood flow to the brain or impending stroke. There are many other causes of severe headache, but TIA is not one of them.”
Some more likely causes of a sudden severe headache: migraine, ruptured aneurysm, pinched nerve in the neck, “icepick” headache (though these last only moments).
Some likely causes of a less sudden-onset but severe headache: migraine, tension/stress, sinusitis, pinched nerve in the neck, bleeding in the brain from a head injury, brain cancer or benign tumor.
“In general a patient should be advised to call or see a doctor if the severe headache is of new onset or never experienced before.
“Severe headache of new onset should not be ignored, but is not due to TIA.”
Dr. Sellman’s interests are in clinical neurophysiology and neuromuscular disorders. He previously served as chief of the Division of Neurology at Mercy Medical Center since 2002.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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Top image: Freepik/benzoix
IBS: Age, Stool Changes, Colon Cancer, Pain
Here is a sampling of IBS articles:
Can IBS ever lead to colon cancer or even colon polyps?
Many with irritable bowel syndrome wonder if this disorder can ever pave the way to colon cancer. After all, the symptoms of both conditions are frighteningly similar.
IBS and back pain!
Yes, IBS can cause back pain. But how does this happen? And is there anything you can do to prevent this?
What’s vexing about back pain is that it can have so many potential causes, even more than one cause at the same time. How does IBS fit in with back pain?
How common are narrow, skinny stools with IBS?
Have you read that narrow, pencil-like stools can result from colon cancer?
If you’ve been noticing narrow long stools lately, is this more likely to be IBS? Or not? This explains it all.
IBS and Pain in a Leg
Leg pain can have a number of causes including compression of nerves at the spine.
Another cause might be irritable bowel syndrome.
Though this isn’t a common result of IBS, it can actually happen, and here’s why.
Can IBS cause your stools to be dark green?
Poops can easily turn dark green as a result in variables relating to the digestive process as it relates to food intake.
Have you been seeing dark green poops in the toilet bowl lately? Read more on this.
IBS Symptoms vs. Microscopic Colitis
It’s no secret that often, someone with IBS is misdiagnosed with microscopic colitis, and someone with microscopic colitis is misdiagnosed with IBS.
Both disorders can cause a lot of diarrhea as well as stomach cramping.
The symptoms greatly overlap, but this doesn’t mean that the treatments are similar as well.
Fact is, the treatments and management of both these conditions are quite different from each other.
That’s why when there’s a misdiagnosis, the patient continues suffering from the problem with no improvements, despite the new “treatment.”
A misdiagnosis should not occur, being that the diagnosis of microscopic colitis is dependent upon a tissue biopsy that has a distinct appearance under the microscope!
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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Top image: diana.grytsku
Poops: Green, Skinny, Pebbly, Colon Cancer
Here is a sampling of articles on bowel movements.
Do thin narrow stools usually mean colon cancer?
How often have you read that thin stools (“pencil-like” or “ribbon-like”) can signal colon cancer?
National Cancer Institute
How often have you read that colon cancer can cause stools to come out long and skinny because the tumor partially blocks the exit point of BMs, forcing them to come out skinny?
Though this is true, this doesn’t mean there can’t be benign causes of narrow thin stools. Here is more on this topic.
Why can IBS make stools come out in little pieces?
Those of you who have IBS have certainly scratched your head on this one.
IBS can definitely cause your poops to come out in clusters of pebble-like formations. Here is an explanation.
IBS poops vs. malabsorption poops
Malabsorption can be caused by numerous medical conditions, including cancer.
Is there a way to visibly distinguish the BMs from malabsorption and the BMs from irritable bowel syndrome? Here is more information.
How common are narrow skinny stools with IBS?
You may know that colon cancer can cause BMs to come out long and skinny, or to appear like pencils or ribbons.
However, irritable bowel syndrome can cause narrow stools too. But how common is this? Continue…
Can dark green stools be caused by IBS?
Irritable bowel syndrome can cause all sorts of symptoms, and dark green stools are one of them. Learn more about dark green poops.
Can dark green stools be caused by microscopic colitis?
Find out what’s going on when green stools result from microscopic colitis — which you may not even know you have…though you certainly will know something’s going on in your GI tract, being that this inflammatory bowel disease causes diarrhea.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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Top image: Shutterstock/Notto Yeez
The Mouth: Many Symptoms, Causes and Remedies
Cotton in your mouth?
There’s a big difference between thirst and “dry mouth.” You can have a true case of dry mouth and not feel the least bit thirsty.
The difference in how being “parched” and having dry mouth feels is that with a dry mouth, it feels like you have cotton in it. Not just lining your tongue, but a thick layer lining the insides of your cheeks.
Guzzling water will not make this sensation go away because it’s caused by reduced secretion of saliva. Dry mouth has a number of causes. Continue…
Sweet taste in mouth won’t go away?
Do you have a nagging taste in your mouth that can be described as sweet? Funny thing is, you’ve not eaten anything sweet or sugary. And it won’t go away no matter what you do.
The only time you should be tasting something sweet is when you’re eating something sweet. Find out what this could mean and how you can solve it.
Is there a nagging metal taste in your mouth?
Ughh, what can be causing THIS? (Lots of things!) A phantom metal taste is a very unpleasant experience, almost like sucking on a coin.
So how can you get rid of this awful sensation? Depends on the cause!
“Why do I keep having a salty taste in my mouth, doggone it?”
A salty taste in the mouth, even though you haven’t been eating salty foods, has causes — and solutions.
Eating salty foods such as crackers, pretzels or canned soup should not leave this lingering taste in your mouth. There are solutions. Here they are.
Freepik
Are your teeth sensitive after fillings?
Is this normal? How long should it last? It’s no picnic when you can’t enjoy a chilled beverage, let alone ice cream, thanks to sensitive teeth.
It’s time to find out what dentists say about this annoying problem.
Can dry mouth be the only symptom of Sjogren’s disease?
When I suddenly developed dry mouth, I couldn’t help but think, “Could I have Sjogren’s disease?”
So I set out to find out if ONLY dry mouth can be the beginning of this autoimmune condition, for which 90 percent of the people it affects are women.
