Pickle Juice for Athletes: Does It Really Stop Muscle Cramps?

Walk into many professional locker rooms and you will find something that looks out of place next to the sports drinks: pickle juice. NHL forward Blake Coleman, nicknamed "Pickles," drinks it before games, and teams across football, hockey and basketball keep it on hand. The reason is cramps. Is it just a ritual, or does it work? The research is small but surprisingly clear on one point.

What athletes mean by pickle juice

Pickle juice is the brine left in a jar of pickles: water, vinegar, a lot of salt and spices such as dill and garlic. Some companies now sell it bottled in small "shot" sizes for athletes. Its two notable features are a strong sour taste from the vinegar and a very high sodium content.

The study that started it

The best-known experiment was published in 2010 in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise by Kevin Miller and colleagues. Researchers mildly dehydrated a group of healthy men, about 3% of body weight, then triggered a cramp in a small foot muscle with electrical stimulation. During a second cramp, the men drank either water or pickle juice, about 1 milliliter per kilogram of body weight. For a typical adult that is roughly two to three ounces, a small shot.

The results:

• After pickle juice, cramps ended about 37% faster than after water and about 45% faster than with no drink at all.
• Relief came in roughly a minute and a half, long before the drink could be absorbed from the stomach.
• Blood levels of sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium did not change in that time.

Why it might work: the taste, not the salt

Because the cramp eased before anything could reach the bloodstream, the salt in the brine cannot be the explanation. The researchers proposed a neural reflex instead: the strong acidic taste stimulates receptors in the mouth and throat, which send signals that calm the misfiring nerves keeping the muscle contracted. Coleman has described it the same way, saying the taste is so sour that it "tricks" the body.

Follow-up studies by the same research group, published in the Journal of Athletic Training in 2014 and 2015, found that drinking pickle juice did not quickly restore electrolytes or rehydrate people in a meaningful way. In other words, pickle juice is a possible cramp stopper, not a replacement for proper hydration.

Pickle juice: claims and evidence

Claim	What the research shows
It stops a cramp that has already started	Supported by a small lab study: cramps ended faster than with water
It works by replacing salt	Not supported: blood electrolytes did not change in time
It prevents cramps if you drink it before a game	Not proven; the evidence is about stopping cramps, not preventing them
It rehydrates you	No: it is not a substitute for water or sports drinks
Any sour drink may work	Possible if the reflex theory is right, but less studied

How athletes use it

Most athletes and trainers use a small amount, one to two ounces, at the first sign of a cramp or before an event where cramps are likely, such as a hot day or a long game. Pickle juice became famous in American football after the Philadelphia Eagles credited it for their win over the Dallas Cowboys in brutal heat in September 2000, and it has since spread to hockey dressing rooms, tennis courts and marathon aid stations.

Blake Coleman started drinking it in college and later launched his own "P20" pickle juice line. Read his story in our profile of Blake Coleman.

Who should be careful

• Sodium. Pickle brine is very salty. People on a low-sodium diet or with high blood pressure, heart or kidney conditions should talk to a doctor before using it regularly.
• Stomach. The acidity can cause heartburn or an upset stomach, especially during intense exercise.
• Frequent cramps. Regular or severe cramps can have medical causes and should be checked by a professional rather than treated with brine.

Cramps also have simpler fixes that work alongside or instead of pickle juice: gently stretching the cramping muscle, staying hydrated, building fitness gradually and not overdoing it in the heat. For the sports where cramps are most common, see our list of the hardest sports in the world.