Bar of soap in bed for leg cramps?

Here is something different than the VP debates and typical doom.

So, tonight I asked my nurse friend tonight for anything that would help with tendonitis in my calf. She said drink lots of water, eat bananas, and sleep with a bar of soap by your feet.


The following hypothesis was contributed by Derek H. Page and Hugh Smailes:

Several years ago, Ann Landers raised a provocative question in her column: does soap at the foot of the bed cure night-time leg cramps? The consensus in the medical community is no: there is no conceivable mechanism by which it could, so any relief derived from this procedure must be due to the placebo effect. In other words, it's all in the mind.

But if it is indeed a placebo effect, it's a remarkably strong one. Many people who have suffered for months, if not years, from painful, nocturnal cramps in their legs and feet have found immediate and long-lasting relief just by slipping a thin, innocent bar of soap beneath the sheets. Some even report relief although they were unaware that a bar of soap had been snuck into bed. Likewise, others whose cramps have mysteriously returned have been nonplussed until they later discover that their bars of soap have fallen from the bed.

[link to www.peoplespharmacy.com]

I couldn't believe my friend actually suggested this, and i figured it would be some sort of placebo effect. I also couldn't believe i actually found websites referring to this.

Allow me to be the first one to call it:


What are your thoughts on this?