Salt Tablets vs CrampFix
For athletes training and exercising for long periods of time, ensuring a healthy balance of electrolytes and hydration is essential to ensure high performance and uninterrupted training.
There are a range of products available that aim to treat, prevent or ease cramps for athletes, each with different potential pros and cons. You may have heard of taking salt tablets for cramps, or had them recommended to you for cramp prevention and relief— but do you really know what salt tablets are or how they work?
While salt tablets taken with water may be useful in replenishing your body’s electrolytes after or during periods of exercise or excessive seating, they can have health implications if taken improperly.
If you’re looking for more information on salt tabs, salt supplements and salt tablets for runners to ease or prevent cramps, this article is for you.
Before you try salt tabs, salt supplements and salt tablets for running, it’s important to understand why your body is cramping in order to find an appropriate remedy for cramps. While it’s important to replace your body’s sodium and other electrolytes (such as potassium and magnesium) after sweating, too much salt can be damaging for your body and can even cause you to dehydrate further.
What happens when you cramp?
Research shows that cramps are a result of neuro-muscular system overfiring and sending signals to the muscle causing a cramp. By stimulating the neuro-muscular system to stop the overfiring signal and relax the muscle, you can relieve the cramp in moments.
As cramping can often occur during exercise and muscle fatigue, salt tablets and sports drinks packed full of electrolytes are often used to address muscle cramps. However, using Salt tablets for cramps is not as straightforward as downing a salt tab each time you have a cramp. In fact, salt tablets should be used sparingly, and ideally with the guidance of a coach or health professional.
What is the use of salt tablets for muscle cramps?
Salt tablets are just one of many supplements used for muscle cramps that may provide relief from cramps brought on by excessive exercise or low electrolytes.
When to take salt tablets? Salt tabs and tablets may be beneficial for times when your body is low on salt, however this does not mean using salt tablets for muscle cramps is an effective remedy.
What are salt tablets used for?
Salt tabs, or salt tablets, are electrolyte tablets with high levels of the electrolytes sodium and chloride. Sodium is an essential electrolyte that can help to restore electrolyte levels after sweating or illnesses with extreme loss of bodily fluids. Salt tablets are used for replenishing salt — but, it’s important to know when to take salt tablets and why. Too much salt can lead to health issues including blood pressure, heart attack, blood clots, kidney damage, or even stroke.
While salt tablets have been used by athletes for endurance and high performance exercise, they are not as commonly recommended as they used to be. Rather, many athletes and coaching staff prefer to use specially formulated products and sports drinks with additional electrolytes, including potassium, magnesium, and phosphate.
While each brand is different, salt tablets may contain a mix of electrolytes including chloride, potassium, phosphate, bicarbonate and along with sodium. The salt tablet dose will depend on the brand and the electrolytes included, or example, Toppin Salt Tablets include 600mg Sodium Chloride B.P. Without understanding how much salt your body has lost, or needs, it can be tricky to try and determine the correct salt tablet dose when using straight salt tabs.
Our CrampFix Sports Range is designed for athlete use, with two easy to use package designs and four delicious flavours — packed with a range of electrolytes for peak performance. What’s more, our CrampFix is specially formulated for rapid cramp relief that works by stimulating the muscular-nerve system through a mouth reflex, and sending a new signal to the system to stop cramping.
If you’re looking to try salt tablets for cramp relief, instead try a product design to address cramps, working through the system that causes camping.
Cramp relief for peak performance
Drinking 10-20 mL of CrampFix Sports Range, or spraying CrampFix Rapid Mouth Spray 4 times in the mouth, stimulates the sensory nerves in the mouth and throat. With cramp spray or CrampFix drink swished in the mouth, a signal is then sent through the spinal cord to inhibit the overactive nerve signals. The overactive nerve signals going from the nerves to the cramping muscle are interrupted and the cramp is rapidly relieved or prevented.
CrampFix is designed for rapid relief from cramps, acting through the neuro-muscular system, rather than the digestive system, and provides rapid relief compared to salt tablets.
Fast relief that actually works
While salt tablets take about 20 minutes to digest and work through the blood, using CrampFix relieves muscle cramps within 30 seconds to 2 minutes. For cramps during the night, CrampFix Cramp Spray provides rapid relief. For effective cramp relief without swallowing a tablet, simply spray, for cramps to go away.
For instant relief from muscle cramps – working through the neuro-muscular system like CrampFix or our cramp spray does will be the fastest and most reliable way to get the results you need.
We’ve worked with high performing athletes and sportspersons like triathlete Ash Hunter, AFL Player Zac Langdon, marathon runner Cristian Homoc and others, to ensure our products provide the best relief, to keep them at the top of their game.
“I tried for years and made a conscious effort to drink water and hydrolytes but still struggled with cramps. Cramps generally affect me late in the game mostly in the last quarter and CrampFix is actually making a huge difference. I take it as soon as I feel a cramp coming on or get fatigued and it seems to postpone/get rid of the cramping all together” — Zac Langdon, AFL Player.
Read athlete testimonials here.
High performance electrolyte replacement
Ensuring a healthy balance of electrolytes is important for all bodies, and especially for people who are active and sweating a lot. This might be for high performing athletes, training sessions or manual work in hot conditions.
While preventing cramps and ensuring electrolyte replenishment may be a top priority, not all cramp relief is created equally. With both salt tablets taken correctly with water, and sports drinks ingested through the digestive system, can result in an uncomfortable amount of liquid in your stomach. For runners and highly active people, this can be the last thing you want. What you want, is a muscle cramp remedy that works in moments, and doesn’t require a large amount of liquid to ingest.
Salt Supplements for runners and endurance athletes
Generally speaking, by simply drinking enough water and consuming a balanced diet, you should have the right balance of electrolytes to go about your daily activities. However, for long distance runners, high frequency trainers, and endurance athletes, you may find it necessary to take supplements to ensure your body’s electrolyte levels are adequately replaced.
You may have heard of salt tablets for runners as an electrolyte replacement to prevent or relieve cramps. This is because, put simply; if you’re sweating often and a lot, the electrolytes are literally pouring out of you. You need to ensure adequate hydration and electrolyte replenishment — however, electrolyte replacement is not always an adequate cramp fix. Many athletes find a salt tablet is not enough to relieve cramps, and of course, taking too many will create an imbalance of sodium which can cause health issues.
Sports FUEL X: the full package
Fixx Nutrition’s Fuel X Endurance Fuel Drink mix contains all the electrolytes, hydration & energy you need to keep you going — so you stay replenished, hydrated and energised.
The specially formulated mix contains key electrolytes, simple carbohydrates and calories for energy, specifically designed to replace everything you lose during exercise. The best bit? No sticky bars, chews or gels needed!
Fuel X Pro is a superior source of nutrition as it also contains premium amino acids for improved performance and endurance, that is easily and quickly absorbed into the body during exercise. The mix is designed to provide maximum benefit, ensuring it’s easy to take, and has minimal to no impact on your digestive system. Simply mix 2 scoops of the powder to 500-700ml water into your drink bottle or hydration flask to keep hydrated and replenished on the go.
Training and performance essentials, designed for athletes
For peak performance, you should use the same supplements and nutrition when training, as you do for events. Ensuring you don’t experience any digestive issues or discomfort in training means you can confidently approach your event, knowing you have the right mix.
CrampFix Sports performance products for cramp remedy can easily be incorporated into an athlete’s nutrition plan at any stage as it doesn’t need to be digested. If you don’t want to digest the drink, you can simply hold it in your mouth and swish, then spit it out — it will still trigger the neuro-muscular system through a mouth reflex that rapidly sends a signal to your muscle to stop the cramp. You can still use your usual electrolytes, hydration, and energy products, along with cramp ease Rapid Mouth Spray.
The difference between CampFix and Salt Tablets for cramps
For anyone who suffers from muscle cramps frequently or whilst exercising, you have probably searched far and wide to find a remedy that works — and have likely come across salt tablets for cramp relief. While salt tabs and salt supplements may help relieve cramps for some people, for many a salt tablet is not sufficient. While one may not work to relieve the cramp, taking too many could cause other issues.
The main thing to consider when looking for an effective remedy for cramps, when exercising or otherwise, is to understand why you’re cramping and address the cause. When doing intense exercise, your body loses a high amount of fluid, salt, and other minerals in your sweat that your body needs to function. Taking a salt tablet with water helps rehydrate the body and helps increase your blood pressure which is generally low when doing extreme exercise (e.g. marathons). The disadvantage of taking a salt tablet is that they don’t contain other minerals to help replenish electrolyte levels, and won’t provide effective, immediate relief.
To help your muscles and nerves function to help reduce the chances of cramping, your body needs to have the right levels of calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium. Fixx Nutrition’s Fuel X endurance fuel contains a range of electrolytes, along with simple carbohydrates to give your body what it needs to replenish during exercise.
For cramp relief outside of exercise and sweating, CrampFix Mouth Spray offers rapid relief with a simple spray. Why? This is because both CrampFix Sports shots and Cramp Mouth Spray act through stimulating the neuro-muscular system — not the digestive system like salt tablets— to stop the nerves from mis-firing (which causes cramps), and sending a message to the muscle to stop the cramp.
Where can I find CrampFix Fuel and CrampFix Spray?
For reliable and fast cramp relief through cramp stop spray in Australia, Crampfix sports shots, Fuel X endurance fuel and CrampFix spray are favourites among endurance athletes and recreational fitness enthusiasts.
Unlike cramp salt tablets and other cramp tablets, CrampFix’s specially formulated sports range and cramp spray provide rapid relief, and can be used when needed, and as part of an athlete’s nutrition plan with ease.
To ensure you are training and performing at your peak, without painful and disruptive cramps, a solution targeting the neuro-muscular system is the most effective and fastest relief. Salt tablets can be useful in providing replenishment of lost electrolytes when a person has lost bodily fluids — however for high performance sports persons and athletes, specially formulated electrolyte replacement and cramp relief products offer the most reliable relief and prevention.
Want to know more?
Check out the entire range of CrampFix & Fuel X products here. Proudly Australian owned, we offer a range of formulated sports products for targeted cramp relief. Check out our full range of all-natural, functional nutrition solutions which are made in our own manufacturing facility, based in Burleigh Heads in Queensland, Australia.