why is a charley horse called a charley horse". And why does it hurt so bad?

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Back in 1946 the 'Journal of the American Medical Association' published an article entitled 'Treatment of the Charley Horse,' rather than 'Treatment of Injury to Quadriceps Femoris.' This would indicate that 'charley horse' has been a part of formal English for at least 50 years. But did this term for a 'leg cramp' arise from a lame horse named Charley that pulled a roller across the infield in the Chicao White Sox ballpark in the 1890s? That's the old story, and there was such a horse, but the expression may have been printed several years before his baseball days, in 1888, to describe a ballplayer's stiffness or lameness. Another derivation that seems likely but hasn't been proved traces 'charley horse' to the constables, or Charleys, of 17th century England. According to this theory, 'Charleys,' for 'local police,' survived in America through the 19th century and because aching legs were an occupational disease among Charleys,' ballplayers suffering such maladies were compare to the coopers and said to be 'weary from riding Charley's horse.'" From the "Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997).

In medical parlance, a charley horse is a painful contusion of the quadriceps muscle of the anterior thigh that commonly results in a muscular hematoma and sometimes several weeks of pain and disability.1,2 It often occurs in sports when an athlete is struck by an opponent's knee, in a manner not unlike the kick of a horse, perhaps the reason for its name. In the UK, such an injury is known as a corky, or corkie.

The quadriceps contusion type of "charley horse" is initially treated by icing. Recent studies have shown that the resulting tightness and contractures that sometimes ensue can be lessened by maintaining the knee in a fully bent position for the first 24 hours to prevent the involved muscles from going into spasm. Premature return to activity can result in calcification of the hematoma in and around the muscle, a long-term problem called myositis ossificans.

A cramp can be quickly defused with either a massage or stretching of the affected muscle. Persistent cramps should be treated by a doctor.

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why is a charley horse called a charley horse". And why does it hurt so bad?

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