Grab Best Fitness Blog FeedDOMS ... by Karli Taylor
I had an "emergency" text from a friend this weekend who was extremely sore from a new workout regime he had just begun. With an "important" softball game on the horizon, how could he make this soreness go away?! I'll share some of my tricks to get rid of a bit of the pain, but first I want to explain what soreness really is...
Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) describes a phenomenon of muscle pain, muscle soreness or muscle stiffness that is felt 12-48 hours after exercise, particularly at the beginning of a new an exercise program, after a change in sports activities, or after a dramatic increase in the duration or intensity of exercise.
This muscle pain is a normal response to unusual exertion and is part of an adaptation process that leads to greater stamina and strength as the muscles recover and grow.
DOMS is common and is usually at its worst within 2 days of tough training. DOMS is a result of swelling and microscopic tearing of the muscle fibers. The amount of tearing or swelling (and soreness) depends on how hard and how long you exercise and what type of exercise you do.
Now that you know what it is and what causes it, what can you do about it?
In the past, gentle stretching was one of the recommended ways to reduce exercise related muscle soreness, but a study by Australian researchers published in 2007 found that stretching is not effective in avoiding muscle soreness. Though there is no hard scientific evidence that anything other than time will make DOMS go away, I have found that the following things do help:
- Ice bath or contrast water shower (ice cold then warm)
- Easy low impact exercise also known as "active recovery"
- Gentle massage to increase blood flow to the area
- HYDRATE, HYDRATE, HYDRATE?
- Take some extra vitamin C and increase your intake of anti-oxidants
- Take any anti-inflammatory (advil, aleve)- this will not speed healing, but will ease pain.
Your best bet, however, is to prevent DOMS from occurring at all by properly warming up, cooling down, and pacing yourself when starting a new routine!
