--- title: Warming up, stitches and cramp — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Warming up, stitches and cramp», a lesson of the medicine course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Cold muscles are like cold plasticine: stiff and quick to tear. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/37-warming-up-stitches-and-cramp/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Medicine](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/) / Warming up, stitches and cramp # Warming up, stitches and cramp Lesson 37 of the medicine course of Mova's primary school: 18 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/medicine/37-warming-up-stitches-and-cramp/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/37-warming-up-stitches-and-cramp/0/) — Cold muscles are like cold plasticine: stiff and quick to tear. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/37-warming-up-stitches-and-cramp/1/) — A warm-up of jogging, skips and leg swings slowly raises your heart rate and warms the muscles so they stretch, react and grip better. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/37-warming-up-stitches-and-cramp/2/) — A stitch is a sharp pain under the ribs while running. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/37-warming-up-stitches-and-cramp/3/) — Nobody knows its exact cause, but a pie and a big fizzy drink just before the second half make it far more likely, and it fades once you slow down. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/37-warming-up-stitches-and-cramp/4/) — Cramp is a muscle that suddenly tightens and won't let go, often a calf in the last tired minutes of a match. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/37-warming-up-stitches-and-cramp/5/) — A slow, steady stretch, like pulling the toes up towards you, helps it relax. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/37-warming-up-stitches-and-cramp/6/) — Neither a stitch nor cramp is damage, but a tummy pain that stays after you stop, or cramp in deep water, needs the right moves: tell an adult, or float on your back and call for help. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/37-warming-up-stitches-and-cramp/7/) — A warm-up of about 10 minutes slowly raises the heart rate and warms the muscles; cold muscles strain more easily. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/37-warming-up-stitches-and-cramp/8/) — Before sport a moving warm-up (jogging, skips, high knees, leg swings) works best; long held stretches are better kept for afterwards. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/37-warming-up-stitches-and-cramp/9/) — Holding long stretches just before a sprint can make you slightly slower. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/37-warming-up-stitches-and-cramp/10/) — On cold days, warm up longer and keep layers on until the whistle; keeping warm helps muscles work. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/37-warming-up-stitches-and-cramp/11/) — A stitch is a sharp pain below the ribs during running; its exact cause is not known, it leaves no harm, and slowing down, breathing out slowly and pressing on the spot help. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/37-warming-up-stitches-and-cramp/12/) — A full stomach or lots of sugary drink just before running makes a stitch more likely, so at half-time have a small snack and sips of water. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/37-warming-up-stitches-and-cramp/14/) — Cramp is a muscle suddenly tightening and not relaxing; tired, overworked muscles cramp more easily, and it is usually not a tear; it usually passes in minutes, though the muscle can ache afterwards. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/37-warming-up-stitches-and-cramp/16/) — Night cramp in the calf is common and usually harmless; pulling the toes up towards you stretches it; if it happens very often, see a GP. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/37-warming-up-stitches-and-cramp/17/) — The old rule of waiting an hour after eating before swimming, or you'll get cramp, has no good evidence behind it. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/37-warming-up-stitches-and-cramp/18/) — A cramp must be stretched slowly and gently; jerking it hard can pull the muscle. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/37-warming-up-stitches-and-cramp/19/) — If you get cramp in the water, roll onto your back, float, shout and wave for help, because panicking and thrashing tires you fast and you can swallow water. - ← previous: [Heart and lungs when you run](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/36-heart-and-lungs-when-you-run/) - next →: [Muscles: getting stronger and getting fitter](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/38-muscles-getting-stronger-and-getting-fitter/) - ↑ back to [Medicine](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/)