Why Leg Cramps are Called "Charley Horses" and How To Stop Them

Q. Why are those pains in your legs called "Charley Horses"?
Pam, Peralta, New Mexico

A. I get different answers.

The American Heritage Dictionary calls the term "baseball slang." Maybe a baseball player named Charley had leg cramps.

Morris' Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins says, "Nobody is quite sure where the expression originated, but the general theory is that the first victim was a lamed race horse named Charlie or Charley."

Another dictionary of word origins suggests that the original night watchmen in London were named Charleys after Charles I, who organized the watch in 1640. Later the term "Charley" became slang for all police officers. Still later, the term "Charley horse" developed since the police were on foot and thus developed aching feet and legs. Maybe so, but it seems far fetched.

Moving on to The Historical Dictionary of American Slang, we glean a bit of charley-horse history. A newspaper first printed the expression "Charley-horse" in 1903. The quote from H. Spencer is: "We are indebted to the turf when an attack of rheumatism is denominated a 'dose of the Charley-horse.'"

I wonder if "turf" is a horse racetrack or a baseball field. It's hard to dope out what this quote is talking about. At any rate, the term "charley horse" has been around, in writing, about a hundred years.

(Answered September 6, 2002)

Q. How do you get rid of Charley horses?
Shelby, Dequeen, Arkansas

A. We all get them. Sometimes, as we're falling asleep or just waking up, we jerk awake with excruciating pain in a leg or foot. Charley horses almost always hit the instep of my foot, usually the left one, especially after a long hike. I leap out of bed and press my foot to the floor by standing on it with all my weight. Eventually that helps, the pain subsides and I, gingerly, return to bed.

A Charley Horse is a muscular cramp caused by a contraction of the muscle. To stop the pain, we stop contracting the muscle by stretching it instead. In my case, I stand one-footed on the cramping foot with all my weight, which forces the muscles in my arch to stretch.

If the cramp hits the calf, we need to stretch the calf muscle by pushing the heel forward, bending the ankle so the toe points up. Massaging the cramping muscle sometimes helps. Walking on the leg can help.

Prevention has appeal. The Mayo Clinic suggests:
Drink plenty of fluids.
Stretch leg muscles before going to bed.
Get enough potassium (perhaps by eating bananas or drinking orange juice).

Further Reading

Night leg cramps, Mayo Clinic

Leg cramps, Google answers

(Answered Nov. 6, 2007)