Muscle Tenderness After Exercise

Muscle tenderness after exercise is also known as delayed onset muscle soreness. It is different from acute muscle pain in that you will not experience this pain until after your exercise session is through. It may not even be until the following day, or two, that you will experience this phenomenon.

Causes

Exercise is stressful to your body. When you exercise, microscopic injuries can occur in your muscles, which can account for muscle tenderness after exercise. Damage to your muscle fibers and even tears in your muscle cells may be the cause of your pain. When you experience an injury, even a microscopic one, your body starts an inflammatory response. This is a reaction by your immune system to repair the damage and may cause pain, heat and tenderness to the affected muscles.

Benefits

Though it may seem like you are doing more harm than good when experiencing muscle tenderness, this is actually a good sign. The only way your body can adapt to exercise stimulus is if it is challenged. If you continue to do the same exercise over and over without putting additional stress on your muscles and cardiorespiratory system, you will never adapt. Muscle tenderness is an indication that you have stressed your muscles beyond their current capabilities. Continued stress will elicit positive adaptations.

Prevention

Proper training and technique can help lessen muscle tenderness from exercise. A thorough warmup is the best prevention. During a warmup, you gradually increase your heart rate, blood pressure, blood flow and body temperature. By increasing your body temperature, you reduce the amount of soreness you will feel after exercise. To do a proper warmup, take between five and 10 minutes before your program and work at a light intensity. For example, if you are going to run for your workout, participate in a walk, then light jog for your warmup.

Treatment

When you experience muscle tenderness, take a couple of days of rest to allow your body to heal itself. Without proper rest, your body cannot fully adapt to the exercise stimulus. During this time, you can try over-the-counter, anti-inflammatory pain-relievers to help reduce the pain you are experiencing. Initially, you can try cold compression to relieve the pain, then switch to heat after 48 hours. Try stretching to help relieve the pain and begin to increase the range of motion in your sore muscle.