You鈥檇 think that after completing 13 Ironman Triathlons, running聽across the country in 14 days as part of a nine-member relay team, and聽clocking a sub-three-hour marathon, Casey Boren would have his聽training and race-day nutrition and hydration strategy dialed. But聽throughout his endurance-sports career, he鈥檚 been unable to escape聽painful . 鈥淚鈥檝e endured cramping in every Ironman I鈥檝e聽done,鈥 says the 44-year-old, 鈥渢o the point that I know if I don鈥檛聽finish the swim leg in under an hour, my hamstrings will cramp up. On聽the bike, my quads and hamstrings usually seize up around mile 40.鈥
He often battles the condition during the run, as well. At聽a half-Ironman in Knoxville two years ago, his hamstring cramps were聽so painful that, after he crossed the finish line, he stopped for a聽second and couldn鈥檛 move again. 鈥淭hey told me to leave the area, and I聽couldn鈥檛,鈥 he says.
Over the decades, Boren has tried everything from sodium聽tablets to sports drinks. In his experience, 鈥渘othing works except slowing down and聽massaging the tight area and waiting for the cramping to go away, and聽then hope it doesn鈥檛 come back.鈥 But by then, he points out, months of聽intense training are effectively tossed in the trash. 鈥淥nce I start聽cramping, the race stops being about my best performance and is聽reduced to simply finishing.鈥
That an experienced and highly trained athlete such as聽Boren can鈥檛 prevent debilitating speaks to their insidiousness聽and pervasiveness. And he鈥檚 not alone. Talk to just about any serious聽endurance athlete and you鈥檒l hear the same story: When overworked聽muscles seize up painfully and stop doing what the brain tells them to聽do, there鈥檚 no real fix. To make matters worse, cramps often strike at聽the worst possible moment. (Exhibit A: LeBron James pulling himself聽out of the first game of the 2014 NBA Finals due to leg cramps.)
The most popular protocol for battling is to聽rehydrate using electrolyte-infused fluids. But despite sports聽nutritionists鈥 and sports scientists鈥 best efforts, cramping in聽athletes has persisted without an effective answer until a turning聽point in the science took root off the coast of Cape Cod.聽During a聽kayaking trip five years ago,聽a Nobel Prize鈥搘inning neuroscientist聽experienced a painful and potentially disastrous case of .

While paddling well offshore, Dr. Rod MacKinnon felt his聽arms seize up. The chemical-biology professor at The Rockefeller聽University wasn鈥檛 alone in his agony, either. His kayaking partner,聽Dr. Bruce Bean, a neurobiologist at Harvard, was suffering the same聽cramping. Both are fit and experienced paddlers who had been paying聽careful attention to their nutrition and hydration the whole way. They聽both eventually made it back to shore, but the ordeal drove them to聽find out what went wrong. For MacKinnon, a serious athlete who had聽spent the bulk of his career investigating ion channels, his two worlds collided. And when he聽found out how little we truly understood about cramping, he became聽obsessed.

MacKinnon鈥檚 research started with a look at traditional聽sports drinks and other electrolyte solutions. His take: They were聽predicated on replacing what people believed the body lost through聽sweat鈥攊f the body is losing salt or potassium, then restore those聽levels. But he also came across stories of marathon runners stirring聽mustard into water and cyclists downing pickle juice to end . He聽was curious and asked himself, “What’s the story here?”
The more he learned, the more he began to suspect that it聽wasn鈥檛 the muscle that needed help (electrolytes, fluid, carbs), but a聽short circuit in the ion channels鈥攖he system that carries messages among the brain, the nervous system, and the muscle.聽What the body needed was some sort of stimulation to tell the motor聽neurons in the spinal cord to, essentially, stop freaking out.

With that realization, MacKinnon spent the next four years聽in his lab zeroing in on what would eventually become the first聽clinically proven formula to treat and prevent .聽By early 2015,聽he鈥檇 arrived at a spicy proprietary blend of ingredients.聽Here鈥檚 how it works: Right before or during a workout, an聽athlete downs a shot of MacKinnon鈥檚 performance cocktail. Ion聽receptors in the mouth, esophagus, and stomach spring to life, sending聽signals to the spinal cord, which then shoots out messages throughout聽the body鈥檚 nervous system to keep everything operating normally.聽Almost everyone has felt this mouth-to-spine-to-body connection when聽eating ice cream too fast, causing 鈥渂rain freeze.鈥 Ingesting ice-cold聽beverages or frosty foods results in a rapid cooling of a cluster of聽nerves adjacent to the roof of the mouth. For similar reasons, the聽right formula of spices can trigger a response to cramping.
If MacKinnon and Bean have their way, their research will聽formally launch a new direction in sports science鈥攐ne they鈥檙e calling聽neuromuscular performance. Put simply, it鈥檚 understanding how the聽nervous system responds to stress and then manipulating it in such a聽way that it stays in optimal working order. It鈥檚 not mind over matter.聽It鈥檚 not nutrition and energy management. It鈥檚 about the nerves, which聽deliver information throughout the body. The premise is simple: If the聽pathways are out of whack, cramping happens. Trick them into staying聽in line, and it doesn鈥檛.

This summer, MacKinnon and his team, who have been working聽with a select group聽of unnamed professional and world-class聽athletes, are wrapping up their research with more trials. (The owners聽of the New England Patriots and Boston Celtics were early investors in聽Flex Pharma, the company MacKinnon and Bean set up to research and聽market their super juice.) If all goes according to plan, Flex Pharma聽will bring their product to market in聽2016.
For Boren, the day can鈥檛 come fast enough: 鈥淚 train and聽race with a power meter on my bike, and I know that when I鈥檓 cramping,聽it鈥檚 not from muscle fatigue鈥攎y power is right where it鈥檚 supposed to聽be. And I know it can鈥檛 be from dehydration and electrolyte issues,聽because I follow a strict protocol during a race to stay hydrated. If聽there鈥檚 a theory out there to get rid of , you bet I鈥檓 going to聽try it.鈥