Coping With Sore Muscles After Physical Activity

Data: 2020-07-28

It's normal to feel pain and severe discomfort after intense workout. When you planning to intensity your exercise program or implement new exercises into your training plan you probably will feel some burning in your muscles -  it means that you have the proverbial "soreness" or DOMS. If you want to know how to distinguish them and how to interact with them - read mgr Magdalena's Sibiga article. Magdalena Sibiga is a trainer of physical preparation and lecturer at the Gdansk College of Health.

What is muscles soreness and what are DOMS?

To distinguish DOMS from muscles soreness you don't need to look for Dr. House's hidden diagnostic talent. Just check when you feel pain. When you feel the "cutting" of your legs/arms during or immediately after training, and the pain is  the thtoughest a maximum of several hours after workout - you have uscles soreness. If your muscle pains, maintain the next day and increases in 24-48 hours, you have DOMS (delayed muscle pain the next day and build up in 24-48 hours, you have DOMS), a delayed muscle pain syndrome. This means that you may experience muscle aches almost every workout.

How does soreness develop?

The natural reaction to exercise is being out of breath. Then the body tries to obtain more oxygen for the muscles, which is their "fuel". Often, however, even the greatest shortness of breath is not able to cover the muscles' demand for oxygen, and thus - energy. The working muscles then produce energy anaerobically - from glucose. This process is called glycolysis. As a result, pyruvate is formed. When there is not enough oxygen, pyruvate is temporarily converted to lactate, which allows glucose to break down and further produce energy. Then lactate accumulates in the muscles in high doses.
When the production of lactate and other metabolites results in a burning sensation during exercise, then we are talking about "soreness". It is the body's natural defense mechanism that warns us against overtraining. You may feel a burning sensation and pain both during exercise and a few hours after it - until the muscles are cleared of residual metabolic products. Thus, "sour" and DOMS differ in symptoms, causes, and duration.

How do you distinguish delayed muscle pain syndrome (DOMS) from regular post-workout pains?

The way is quite simple. With DOMS, you may experience the following symptoms:

• unusual muscle tenderness,
• short-term muscle weakness - you do not feel as usual,
• limited range of motion,
• accompanying stiffness in the joints closest to the muscle groups - pain throughout the body, similar to what we feel during the flu
• general weakness due to pain.

If you are experiencing the above symptoms - you have DOMS. It is not easy to confuse these symptoms with any other exertional pain. If you experience DOMS once, you'll recognize it the next time without any problem.

A few tips

• The best way to reduce muscle pain is to slowly make changes to your training. Gradually adding weights, systematically increasing the sections run, etc. The more you spread out your plan and the smaller the changes, the more you minimize the risk of DOMS,
• regeneration of the body (sleep)
• taking DOMS supplements,
• taking painkillers,
• alternative pain treatments such as massage and acupuncture
• use of analgesic ointments, gels, and creams,
• proper diet and food.

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