Most of us that have ever exercised are familiar with
post-exercise (or exercise-induced) muscle pain. You know, that feeling after
leg-exercises that makes climbing the stairs feel like trekking to Everest Base Camp?
Or you might have questioned whether toilets were always built so low (I know
you know what i mean!).
Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is the pain induced by
exercise that is felt at its worst from 24-48 hours after the workout. Sometimes taking 72 hours to disappear.
Soreness is usually caused by the eccentric or ‘lengthening’ portion of the
muscle contraction (think: running downhill/snowboarding/descending lots of
stairs).
The exercise I’m talking about isn’t an old exercise that your
body is accustomed to, it’s something new or challenging! And these exercises
are IMPORTANT. We need new exercises to strengthen muscle tissue and ‘build mass’. There
is always potential for muscle soreness, because there’s always potential for
improvement! Even body builders and weight-lifters get sore!
All in all, muscle soreness is not entirely bad! Standard DOMS are definitely not dangerous.
On a microscopic scale, muscle tearing occurs when the muscle is put under mechanical stresses (or load) that it’s not used to.
Evidence suggests that these tiny muscle tears, together with the inflammatory response produced (and release of chemicals) when the muscle is microscopically-torn, is what causes the pain.
Well, the evidence is a bit mixed! Some studies suggest that DOMS can be eased by massage received within a couple of hours of the activity, whilst others suggest ice and anti-inflammatory medication. This advice, however may be somewhat outdated, as the use of ice for any injury is questionable from recent randomised controlled trials (RCTs)! Anti-inflammatories may also be unhelpful as some studies indicate that dampening the body's natural response will not improve recovery and can instead stimulate 'false' healing.
Gentle stretching, foam rolling and cardio/whole body exercises may help, as generally speaking, sore muscles feel better when they’re moved and stiffen when still. For example, going for a walk or hopping on a stationary bike may help tired, sore leg muscles to recuperate. Although, there's not too much hard scientific evidence for this either!
Compression garments may be helpful to reduce development of DOMS, however the evidence jury is out on this too! Garment pressures are likely to be higher than the standard popular activewear that most of us wear to exercise, requiring medical grade compression (>20-30mmHg). Otherwise, compressive activewear helps to increase circulation and feels great to wear when you're sore (from personal experience!).
So in a nutshell, you can try any of the above and see what works for YOU. You might find that stretching or rolling is very effective and that's fantastic! Everyone is different. But as far as a hard-and-fast rule? There isn't really one. Despite this, I will always encourage gentle movement!
Don't exercise hard when you have DOMS. Your training will likely be affected by the pain/inflammation and your muscles won't be able to contract as strongly as normal. So, it’s best to avoid exercises that aggravate it for a couple of days! Time is what will ultimately heal the pain. So give it a few days and try some of the tips below!
BIG TIP: If you're developing DOMS all the time, something in your exercise routine needs to change. While DOMS is normal when you're first starting out or haven't exercised in a while, you need to give your body a chance to become accustomed to the exercises. Constantly challenging your body by increasing weights/reps/time-under-tension will not give your muscles a chance to recuperate and may even increase injury risk.
Move gently, ASK if it feels like more than just muscle soreness* and do what feels good for YOU to manage DOMS.
Physiotherapists are experts at diagnosing and managing muscle and joint pain. If you’re not sure that your pain is just ‘general soreness’ after exercise and are worried that it may be more, please have it looked at! It’s much better to be safe than sorry.
Science is ever-changing. Which is exciting! New studies are constantly being conducted to challenge previous studies, which changes our recommendations. Don't forget that the above is general advice only and can't be applied to specific individual situations.
