| From the Training Table
PICKLE JUICE — The Rest of the Story Jane Foos RD, CD Red Cedar
Medical Center, Menomonie, WI and
Pickle juice. No, it’s not the newest flavor of Gatorade. It’s the latest craze some football teams are using to prevent/treat cramps during competition. Last fall the Philadelphia Eagles credited pickle juice with preventing muscle cramps during their win over the Dallas Cowboys, which was played in over 100-degree heat. A fad was born, or should we say re-born. Using pickle juice for cramps is not new. Before the development of sport drinks athletes drank water laced with pickle juice to prevent cramps. The problem was taste and side effects. Many athletes couldn’t tolerate the water/pickle juice taste. Side effects included stomach distress, nausea, fluid imbalance, and high blood pressure. Straight pickle juice also lacks the carbohydrates and potassium that are important for muscle function. Sport drinks were developed to solve these problems and prevent dehydration/cramping. Pickle juice/salt tablet use fell out of favor. So why are athletes still sidelined with muscle cramps? A couple of reasons. Despite
education many athletes still don’t drink enough fluids and suffer
from chronic dehydration. Some athletes lose large amounts of sodium through
heavy sweating. These athletes actually need to increase their sodium
intake. Sports drinks do not contain enough sodium to replace losses between
practices. Other athletes limit their salt intake due to a family history
of high blood pressure.
Below is a plan used by the University of Washington-Huskies to help prevent cramps before the competition starts. Preventing Muscle Cramps Daily:
history of cramping. While giving a sidelined player a shot of pickle juice may/may not relieve a muscle cramp that player is still out of competition; usually when you need him/her the most. The best defense against muscle cramps for these players is an offensive plan to prevent the cramps in the first place. Oh yes, and the rest of the
story. Drinking pickle juice was not the only thing the Eagles did
to prevent cramping during that hot game in Dallas. The Monday before they
started drinking "enormous amounts of Gatorade and water," to make sure
they started the game well hydrated.
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| Pondering Pickle
Juice
Keeping cool with pickle juice? By Staff Coaching Management, 9.4, May 2001, http://www.momentummedia.com/articles/cm/cm0904/bbpickle.htm Although it has enjoyed a long history as a folk remedy in some parts of the country, pickle juice earned increased notoriety last fall when the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Dallas Cowboys 41-14 in the season-opener on a 100-degree-plus day in Dallas. Some of the Eagles credited the team’s use of small amounts of pickle juice, which they say helped them stay hydrated during the game and avoid cramps. But experts warn football coaches to be aware that pickle juice by itself is no protection against the heat. “It’s critically important that the general public understand that the first and foremost means to avoid dehydration and its associated maladies, including cramps, is an aggressive fluid replacement program,” Professional Football Athletic Trainers Society (PFATS) President and New York Giants Head Athletic Trainer Ronnie Barnes said in a PFATS statement shortly after the Eagles win. “What we fear is that the fun the media is having with pickle juice may be doing a public disservice by overstating the need for sodium and understating the need for fluids.” The truth is, in addition to supplements of pickle juice, the Eagles also benefited from an effective hydration regimen which included ingesting large amounts of water and Gatorade in the days leading to the game. And once at the game, the Eagles took other steps to combat the heat, such as shortening pre-game warm-ups and staying in the shade whenever possible. But these other, more mundane, measures were overshadowed by the coverage of the “miraculous” pickle juice. In June 2000, well before the Eagles-Cowboys game, the National Athletic Trainers’ Association had released a position statement on fluid replacement for athletes, including 19 specific recommendations for athletic trainers to follow. In addition to recommending that athletic trainers work with individual athletes to determine specific plans for their hydration needs, the statement also suggested that athletes consume 17 to 20 ounces of water or sports drink two to three hours before a game or practice and another 7 to 10 ounces 10 to 20 minutes before hand. In addition, it stated fluids lost during exercise need to be replaced at a rate of 7 to 10 ounces every 10 to 20 minutes, although they noted this varies based on circumstances. The position statement also discussed the benefits of including carbohydrates, electrolytes, and sodium chloride (salt) during the hydration process, typically through the use of sports drinks. But while fluid intake is an athlete’s best weapon against heat and dehydration, athletic trainers acknowledge that pickle juice may serve a purpose in that regimen. Some athletic trainers have reported that, when used in moderation as a supplement to a sound hydration routine, pickle juice has helped to avoid cramping, and even treat cramps after they have occurred. Other athletic trainers have offered anecdotal reports of mustard and vinegar doing the same thing. But no scientific studies have been conducted to establish why these folk remedies sometimes work. So while coaches should feel
free to ask their athletic trainers about pickle juice, it’s probably not
wise to start raiding the supermarket aisles in preparation for the start
of two-a-days. “We believe that, for the vast majority of athletes, the
first line of defense against cramps and other dehydration-related problems
is to adopt an aggressive hydration regimen with properly formulated fluids,”
Barnes said. “While pickle juice may anecdotally work in selected cases,
it is a public disservice to overstate the role pickle juice could or should
play when we need to underscore the value of total fluid intake.”
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