Muscle Soreness by KA Tekin (MS) (Phd)c

There are two common types of exercise-related muscle soreness. Acute soreness occurs during or immediately after exercise. Delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) develops 12 hours or more after exercise.

What is Acute Soreness?

Muscle soreness during and immediately after exercise usually is a result of simple fatigue, which is caused by a buildup of chemical waste products of training. When this happens, the fatigue will usually disappear after a few minutes of rest. Once this soreness subsides, you can usually continue exercising without any residual effects.

What is Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness?

When you change your training program, DOMS is common after a workout. When you are used to performing 15 repetitions, your muscles adapt to this style of training. If you suddenly switch to 8 repetitions with a heavier weight, you shock your muscles. Another way that your muscles can be shocked is if you have not done any exercise in 6 months, and you suddenly run a couple of miles. You may feel soreness all over your body the next morning. You may also notice muscle stiffness and weakness. These symptoms are a normal response to unusual exertion and are part of an adaptation process that leads to greater strength once the muscles recover. The soreness is usually the worst within the first 2 days following the activity and subsides over the next few days.

What are the causes of DOMS?

DOMS is a result of microscopic tearing of muscle fibers. The amount of tearing depends on how hard and how long you work out and what type of training you do. For example, activities in which muscles forcefully contract while they are lengthening tend to cause the most soreness. The lengthening of a muscle is called an ‘eccentric’ contraction. This occurs in activities such as descending stairs, running downhill, lowering weights, and in the downward movements of squats and push-ups.

When the muscle fiber tears, swelling may take place in and around a muscle, which can also contribute to delayed soreness. This swelling increases pressure on the surrounding tissues, resulting in greater muscle pain and stiffness. Eccentric muscle contractions tend to cause both tearing and swelling.

How to prevent DOMS:

Certain tactics may enable you to avoid delayed soreness or keep it minimal. It is important to warm up before you train and cool down completely afterwards. Stretching in between sets is also a good idea.

It's also important to give your muscles time to adapt to your activity. For example, if you have been inactive and your goal is to run 3 miles in 45 minutes, start by simply running a mile, and then add another quarter- to half-mile at each workout until you can comfortably run 3 miles. Then you can start increasing your pace to achieve your goal.

What should I do when I’m sore?

Doing some light cardio at a moderate pace or working out other muscles that are not sore is a good way to deal with soreness. This will increase blood flow to all muscles (including the affected area) which can help to get rid of that soreness.

Other ways of helping soreness include applying ice, stretching, and massaging the affected muscles. There is research supporting the idea that vitamin C may decrease muscle soreness.

Finally, you should wait until the soreness, weakness, and stiffness is gone before vigorously exercising the affected muscle again.