The informant was sitting at a kitchen table one day with his Grandma.  Suddenly, the informant began experiencing a painful, sudden foot cramp.  He reached down to grab at his foot in pain.  His Grandma, understanding what was going on, got up and told him to stay still.  She pinched the tip of the big toe that was cramping for several seconds, and all of a sudden the cramp vanished.  The informant’s Grandma told him that this folk remedy had been passed down for generations in the family–she had learned it from her mother.

The informant still uses the trick to this day, and says it works most of the time.  The informant thinks this “trick” might be partly psychological, but he also thinks that when you pinch the tip of your toe, you have to flex your foot a bit which increase circulation–and decreases cramping.

I agree with this interpretation.