Guide proper exercise intensity, promote exercise safety and manage muscle aches with post-exercise muscle soreness information. For example, severity of post-exercise soreness depends on exercise performed and fitness level. Furthermore, you must differentiate between expected soreness and injury-related soreness. Although post-exercise muscle soreness cannot be avoided entirely, you can prevent surprises and minimize soreness level with practice.
Post-Exercise Muscle Soreness Defined
Post-exercise muscle soreness, also known as delayed-onset muscle soreness, or DOMS, peaks within 24 to 48 hours post-exercise. According to Len Kravitz, exercise science professor at the University of New Mexico, exercise causes microscopic muscle damage and a subsequent inflammatory response -- resulting in stiff muscles and discomfort. Other symptoms include fatigue, reduced strength and obvious muscle swelling. Over time, repeated muscle damage and repair increases muscle size and DOMS coping ability.
Variation Among Exercise Actions
Eccentric muscle action enhances DOMS, says Kravitz. Eccentric muscle action occurs when your muscle exerts force while lengthening instead of shortening. For example, pressing a barbell away from you during a chest press constitutes concentric muscle action, while lowering the barbell back towards your chest represents an eccentric action. Gravity can quickly bring the barbell down, but lowering weight slowly requires increased effort. Other examples of eccentric action include running downhill and the downward phase of resistance-training exercises.
Positive Versus Negative Soreness
While DOMS indicates post-exercise muscle recovery, other pain may indicate injury or various health issues. For example, DOMS should not be localized to a specific joint or persist past five days. Furthermore, you can use the severity of your post-exercise muscle soreness for workout evaluation. For example, if DOMS prevents you from performing physical activity for many days, you should reduce intensity of future workouts until your body adapts. Conversely, experiencing little or no DOMS two days after a weight-lifting routine indicates many months of experience or inadequate exercise intensity.
Managing DOMS
Although you can treat DOMS with painkillers such as aspirin or ibuprofen, Kravitz advises against such treatments due to inconsistent effectiveness and variability among required dosage. Instead, proper pre-exercise warm-up and post-exercise stretching reduces severity of DOMS. Novice exercisers and those participating in high-intensity physical activity should perform 10 to 15 minutes of warm-up activity such as, walking on a treadmill, jumping rope or cycling. Although sore muscles require 24 to 48 hours for recovery, you may continue to exercise non-sore muscles while previously worked muscle recover.
References
- Ask Dr. Len Kravitz: Treating and Preventing DOMS
- "American Council on Exercise Personal Trainer Manual"; American Council on Exercise; 2003
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