3 Ways to Prevent Muscle Cramps

Jeff Linroth

A jogger suffering from muscle cramps in his lower leg.

While a lot of things that can cause muscle cramps, and there can be many contributing factors that make you more at risk for muscle cramps. It’s important to know what can make you more susceptible to muscle cramps, and how we can prevent muscle cramps. Let’s start at the beginning and dive in to discover what causes muscle cramps

What Causes Muscle Cramps?

The primary cause of muscle cramps is the overuse of a muscle. Think of it as a “ticking time bomb” waiting to go off. The first thing to address is the overuse, because it is the primary cause. Overuse can look a couple of different ways, it can be both overuse from moving the muscle a lot, or overuse from holding the muscle in the same position. Either way, putting strain on the muscle can lead to cramps. Once you ID the movement or position, that will help you solve your muscle cramp problems. 

What Are the Underlying Causes That Make Cramps a “Ticking Time Bomb”?

  • Blood Supply Issues: if you have inadequate blood supply in your limbs, and most especially your extremities, severe cramps can occur. If these cramps are caused by blood supply, then they should go away fairly quickly after you stop exercising the muscle. 
  • Nerve Compression: Affecting seniors and those with back problems, nerve compression in the spine (lumbar stenosis) can create cramps in the legs that gets more and more painful after walking. To ease the pain, walk slightly hunched–as though you were pushing a shopping cart. Then consult your doctor.
  • Mineral Depletion or Electrolyte Loss: There are minerals that are essential to making sure that your muscles and nerves are operating effectively, and these are called electrolytes. While the electrolyte we hear about most often is sodium, there are other minerals that are equally important, such as potassium, calcium, magnesium, and bicarbonate. Sweating will deplete these electrolytes, but so will frequent urination, diarrhea and vomiting, and diuretics (medicines prescribed for high blood pressure). Replenish all those minerals with our Boulder Salt.

What Puts You More At Risk For Getting Muscle Cramps?

There are some medical conditions that make you more prone to getting cramps, some of which you can control and some of which you can’t. These are:

  • Age: The older you get, the less effective your muscles are at, well, everything. This is just a fact of aging. With aging muscles, your muscles can wear out sooner during athletic events and begin to cramp.
  • Dehydration: Hydration should ideally replace electrolytes, but even if you don’t have access to electrolytes like Boulder Salt, getting plenty of water is a good way to stop the onslaught of muscle cramps. 
  • Pregnancy: Pregnancy is hard enough by itself, but it also comes with the problem of increased muscle cramps. 
  • Medical Conditions: Diabetes, nerve disorders, liver disorders, and thyroid problems can all increase your chance of getting muscle cramps.

How Can I Prevent Muscle Cramps?

  1. Hydrate: Drinking a lot of water before and during a physical event is not enough to prevent muscle cramps. You should be regularly hydrating your body so your muscles are used to being fully hydrated–not just during periods of athletic activity. The amount of water you should drink depends on your height and weight, your sex, the level of activity, the heat (heat can really exacerbate muscle cramps), your health and age, and the medicines you take. Being good about always drinking water should be the first thing you do.
  2. Replace Electrolytes: Replacing electrolytes while you’re doing physical activity is essential. Some people say that the best way to replace electrolytes is through sports drinks, and it’s true that some sports drinks have the necessary minerals needed. But not all sports drinks do, and more often than not the minerals are accompanied with a lot of sugar. A better way to replace electrolytes is to use Boulder Salt, which contains all of the electrolytes you need, and putting this salt in your water will be a tasteless solution–you won’t feel like you’re drinking salt water, just good pure water. 
  3. Stretch: Stretching your muscles before and after physical activity can be extremely effective. Even if you get muscle cramps when you’re not doing physical activity, such as while you sleep, you should stretch a little before and after bed. This stretching doesn’t need to be extreme, but a few minutes on a stationary bike, or a little light exercise, should be enough to prevent muscle cramps most of the time. 

All of these factors will help you ease muscle cramps or prevent them from happening in the future! Shop our selection of Boulder Salt today!

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Woman sweating while lifting weights
Performance Questions
How is Boulder Salt different from other salt products meant for athletes?

Most performance related salt products on the market are close to 100% sodium. Our bodies need a variety of electrolytes to perform at optimal levels – not just sodium. Boulder Salt provides a robust, alkaline blend of electrolytes, including sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium. And in a combination that approximates what should naturally exist in the body. This ratio can help athletes optimize their performance. 

It varies depending on your activity level and sweat rate. In general 4 servings is common for everyday use, up to 6 servings for endurance athletes.

If you are under the care of a physician for a medical condition, consult your doctor first.

Boulder Salt is unique in that it can be taken alone, added to water, or mixed with other beverages to up their electrolyte value. It also gives you the option to make your own sports drink – adding flavors and/or sweeteners that work for you.

Can I mix Boulder Salt with my sports drink? Or add it to just plain water?

Yes. If you’re looking to enhance your electrolyte levels, Boulder Salt® is an ideal way to do so! It can be added to both water and sports drinks. You will likely be surprised at how mellow it tastes in water alone. And it will not significantly alter the taste of most beverages. However, Boulder Salt is alkaline, so if you add it to an acidic sports drink (which many are), you can expect to see the drink temporarily “bubble” or foam-up.

Athletes have used Boulder Salt® during all phases of a competitive event – whenever they are accustomed to drinking water or another sports drink. It’s balanced level of electrolytes make it an ideal addition to your electrolyte replacement regime. It can help you shore up electrolytes, hydrate quickly and help prevent or eliminate cramping.


If you are undergoing treatment for a medical condition, consult your physician.

Boulder Salt® is a soft, mellow-tasting salt. The varying size and shapes of different salts provide a unique taste experience. The tiny calcium and magnesium salts, which are very mild tasting, cover the surface of the sodium and potassium crystals and provide for a mellowing of the familiar “bite” of those salts.

Vegetables are even healthier with Boulder Salt.
Health Related Questions
Is Boulder Salt a good way to reduce sodium in my diet?

Yes. Boulder Salt® has nearly ½ the sodium per serving than traditional table salt. And it has a ratio of potassium to sodium, that helps the body maintain a healthy blood pressure.

YES! Boulder Salt® is much lower in sodium chloride than traditional table salt , sea salt, and Himalayan pink salt – which are all over 95% sodium, making Boulder Salt a much healthier alternative!

Alkalinizing the body means means shifting your body from an acidic state to a more neutral or alkaline state. Our normal state of being should ideally be slightly alkaline.
However, environmental factors, stress, a diet low in fruits and vegetables or high in meats and other processed foods, and especially carbonated drinks, can all push our systems into an acidic state. When your body is closer to an alkaline state, you’ll experience fewer illnesses, be better prepared to fight off disease, and simply feel better. Unlike traditional table sale and sea salt, Boulder Salt® is alkaline.

General Questions
Can Boulder Salt be used in place of other salts in cooking and baking?

Absolutely! Boulder Salt® can be used as a 1:1 replacement for any other salt in food preparation, baking and cooking.

 

Boulder Salt® looks different from other salts due to the fact that it is made up of a variety of salts, rather than just one type. Both the chemical composition as well as the particle sizes of the various salts used in Boulder Salt® are different. If you looked under a microscope, you’d see that some of the salts look like “boulders”, while others are much smaller. 

Where does Boulder Salt come from?

The ingredients in Boulder Salt are chosen based on purity, not location. We take 4 different salts and blend them together in a particular ratio to make Boulder Salt. We only use pharmaceutical grade or USP grade salts. Our levels of lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic are incredibly small compared to pink, grey, or other colored salts.

1/4 Teaspoon of “regular salt” weighs 1.5g while 1/4 Teaspoon of Boulder Salt weights 2.0g (more dense). Once this difference in density is taken into account, the 40% difference can be shown. For example: A typical brand of salt shows 585 mg. of sodium in 1/4 tsp. (1.5g).

The sodium in 2.0g is given by 585 x 4/3 = 780mg How much less sodium is in Boulder Salt is given by: 780-480=300 300/780 = .385 or 38.5% less (rounds to 40%) 

Boulder Salt has nearly half the sodium of traditional table salt and sea salt. It also has potassium, magnesium and calcium – salts that are all critical on a biological level. (Traditional table salt is 99% sodium). Boulder Salt looks a bit different too, It has a finer texture than most other salts on the market and a more mellow taste.

How much Boulder Salt should I put in my water, or other beverage of choice?

The precise amount of Boulder Salt® to add to your drink depends on your sweat rate. One quarter teaspoon in a 17-20 oz drink is the recommended starting point.

The material you see that doesn’t dissolve is related the larger particle size of magnesium and calcium. It’s around 4% of the total. These particles do readily dissolve when they are exposed to an acidic environment such as in the stomach. They will dissolve right away if you keep them agitated/stirred up and drink the water with them suspended in it.

Boulder Salt® looks different from other salts due to the fact that it is made up of a variety of salts, rather than just one type. Both the chemical composition as well as the particle size of the various salts used in Boulder Salt® are different. If you looked under a microscope, you’d see that some of the salts look like “boulders”, while others are much smaller.

Why doesn't Boulder Salt have iodine?

We do plan to offer our product in the future, with iodine. Our current formulation does not have iodine because it tends to have a metallic taste when added to water. If used simply on foods, it does not have that strong of an aftertaste. The current formula of Boulder Salt® is intended to be used in both water and on food.

In this video Dr. Ahmed Stowers explains the role that Boulder Salt® plays in his treatment of dehydrated patients.

Boulder Salt® is available here on our website, on Amazon, and in several states including California, Colorado, Hawaii – Kona,  Massachusetts.

Do you offer bulk discounts?
Yes, we are happy to offer discounted pricing on bulk orders. Just contact us or send us an email with your requirements and we’ll give you a call by the next business day!

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We currently ship to Australia, Canada and New Zealand.