Magnesium for the treatment of nocturnal leg cramps: a crossover randomized trial.

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Magnesium in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Nocturnal leg cramps are a common health problem in the ambulatory setting.

Who Took Part

The study group was 93 subjects.

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults, middle-aged adults, older adults and people over 80, both men and women.

The researchers included patients from a large university-based ambulatory clinic in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with at least 6 cramps during the previous month.

A total of 93 subjects took part in a 4-week washout period with placebo.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover study.

The subjects were allocated by chance, so the Magnesium group and the comparison group should start out alike.

Neither the subjects nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Magnesium, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

Some subjects received a placebo instead of Magnesium, giving a reference point.

Each person switched between Magnesium and the comparison at some point, usually with a gap in between.

Their study was a crossover randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial.

Both groups had a 4-week washout period with placebo between each treatment month.

Forty-two patients completed the 4-month study.

The main outcome was the number of nocturnal leg cramps, and the secondary outcomes were duration, severity, and sleep disorders caused by those cramps.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Magnesium, Muscle Cramp and Sleep Wake Disorders.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Magnesium in 93 subjects.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 5 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 1999 (The Journal of family practice), a journal based in United States.

More context: the related Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc library page, all human trials.