No pain no gain the old adage goes. While there is some truth to the notion that one must experience pain in order to gain. Often this notion is taken too far. Post workout muscle soreness, commonly referred to as Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness happens to everyone, regardless of current condition. It is also well known that the more strenuous a workout, whether lifting heavy weights or light weights for a large number of repetitions, will cause muscle soreness.
Lactic Acid
It used to be thought that muscle soreness was caused lactic acid buildup in the muscles. Lactic acid buildup occurs when the demand for oxygen by the muscles cannot be met by the supply. Thus changing the exercise from aerobic, which means "with oxygen," to anaerobic, which is "without oxygen. While the lactic acid is the cause of the burning sensation one feels during exercise, it is not the reason for the soreness. The exact reason for DOMS is currently unknown to researchers according to "Scientific American."
Eccentric Contractions
The type of contraction seems to have an effect on the soreness. Eccentric contractions are a contraction in which the muscle is flexing, but lengthening rather than shortening; an example of this would be lowering the weight to your chest during a bench press. Because the lengthening of a muscle is contracting, it causes more muscle cell damage than contractions in which the muscle is allowed to shorten. It is the muscle cell damage that is believed to be the actual cause of soreness.
Prevention
There is no real way to prevent DOMS from occurring as it does happen to everyone. There does appear to be ways to help reduce the amount of soreness one has after a workout. According to Dr. Len Kravitz of the University of New Mexico, pre-exercise warm up has been effective in reducing the symptoms of DOMS. An additional method suggested by Kravitz is the repeated bout effect, which is a method of starting with bouts of lower intensity eccentric exercise, progressively increasing intensity for up to six weeks. This method has also shown the ability to reduce the effects of DOMS.
Recovery
Unfortunately there does not appear to be a truly effective way to recover from DOMS. Thus far the various treatments attempted have proven inconsistent at best. Treatment methods for assisting in the recovery of DOMS include the use of Non Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drugs such as Ibuprofen, massage, stretching, icing, and nutritional supplements. NSAIDS have the potential to alleviate some of the symptoms, but conclusive evidence supporting NSAIDS could not be found. Conventional methods like massage, icing, and stretching also proved to be inconsistent. Supplementation appeared to be of little use as well. So far the only proven method is resting, since most cases of DOMS start 24 hours after the workout and end within 72 hours after the workout.
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