Physical exercise has many benefits. However, it is sometimes associated with the onset, hours later, of what is popularly known as muscle soreness.
This is what is technically called DOMS, which stands for Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness.
Although it is considered an indirect muscle injury, it is more of a body adaptation mechanism to a physical stimulus, rather than a true injury.
However, it is true that when muscle soreness occurs , it is because there has been mild destruction of the muscle fibers. As a result, certain proteins and enzymes are elevated, and there is mild edema and increased local vascularization.
This translates into symptoms such as pain upon movement, weakness, and a feeling of stiffness and swelling in the muscles, especially after intense, prolonged physical exercise or one that includes eccentric contractions.
The latter refers to those movements in which the muscle is stretched while maintaining a muscular contraction.
Examples of eccentric contractions include flexing and extending the biceps with weights, squats, push-ups, lunges, and walking down stairs or up a hill on an incline.
Muscle pain from DOMS isn’t usually a cause for concern, but it can cause significant discomfort, affect muscle function, and even be disabling. It can, for example, cause problems with walking, bending, or lifting weights. It can also increase the risk of more serious injuries.
When does muscle soreness appear? This feeling of fatigue usually begins to manifest between 8 and 10 hours after exercise, reaching its peak within the next 24 to 48 hours.
Depending on whether the exercise was more or less strenuous, the feeling of pain may last longer or shorter. However, it generally disappears three or four days after physical exercise, and therefore, this period can be defined as the approximate time it takes for the soreness to go away.
Sore muscles usually appear 8 to 10 hours after exercise and last for about 4 days.
There are several measures you can take to reduce muscle soreness after sports or exercise.
The most important thing is to create a training program tailored to your individual fitness level and personal goals. Furthermore, its intensity should be progressively increased to allow the body to adapt.
The inclusion of new movements should also be gradual, especially when incorporating eccentric exercises.
Training frequency is also crucial for preventing muscle soreness. In general, it’s preferable to do lower-intensity sessions more frequently than a few heavy workouts.
The vast majority of exercises, disciplines, or sports can be adapted to prevent very painful or intense muscle soreness.
However, there are some exercises that make this adaptation much easier and allow muscle tone to progressively increase with each practice. These include yoga and Pilates.
Proper hydration and nutrition are also key during sports training.
Finally, it is advisable to perform a dynamic warm-up before physical exercise and finish with stretching.
All of these preventative measures are essential, but sometimes the feeling of muscle strain inevitably appears after exercising. So, how can you relieve the pain of muscle soreness once it appears?
The truth is that there are also strategies that can be used to mitigate discomfort and help the muscle soreness disappear more quickly.
How to relieve muscle soreness
There’s a popular belief that sugar water is an effective remedy for muscle soreness. However, this is a false myth with no scientific basis.
On the contrary, there are small actions that can be taken to reduce muscle soreness and pain.
1. Massage the muscles you’ve worked. Massaging the muscle group you’ve worked can help relieve muscle soreness. To do this, we recommend using a cream containing ingredients that relieve the feeling of fatigue and strain while also promoting muscle and ligament recovery.
Interestingly, these muscle pain creams include a combination of effective plant extracts such as arnica montana, chamomile, and ginkgo biloba.
2. Prioritize nighttime rest. During sleep, the body performs multiple maintenance and repair processes essential for both physical and mental health. Among them, muscles relax and regenerate.
Thus, improving rest and treating any type of sleep disorder that may be interfering with proper muscle regeneration is essential to relieving muscle soreness.
3. Stay active throughout the day. When muscle soreness occurs, it’s important to avoid a sedentary lifestyle at work and at home.
Rest will help us get rid of muscle soreness more quickly; on the contrary, it’s preferable to do light to moderate intensity exercise, such as going for a walk or jogging at a gentle pace.
4. Apply cold and heat. Applying cold and heat as a treatment for muscle soreness is very effective.
It can be easily done in the shower, starting with hot water and ending with cold water.
There are also specific products with analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and rubefacient properties. These products produce a temporary sensation of warmth followed by a gradual reduction in pain in the tissues where they are applied.
Another alternative is heat patches, which are very effective in relieving fatigue and muscle tension caused by overtraining.
Anti-inflammatory cold sprays, on the other hand, are especially recommended during the first 48 hours after exercise to reduce muscle soreness and speed up muscle recovery.
5. Take oral painkillers. If severe muscle soreness occurs, you can occasionally resort to oral painkillers such as paracetamol.
If, in addition to very painful muscle soreness, you also have dark urine and it persists even after proper hydration, it is essential to seek medical assistance immediately.
This is especially common after major competitions such as marathons or Ironmans and must be monitored to prevent kidney damage.
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