Post Workout Muscle Soreness Causes And Treatment

By Goodness M

Do you ever have soreness the day after hitting it a little extra hard at the gym? This is a very common condition, called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS). However, it would help if you did not worry about it because it does not harm your health. Instead, if you continue working out every day, the soreness goes away gradually.

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Causes of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness

Our muscles are torn when we exert too much pressure on them through lifting heavy stuff. When the torn muscles start building again, they come back stronger. You might wonder why you don’t feel the soreness when you are lifting the weights. The soreness is caused by the process of repairing the torn muscles, and this usually starts after some time. Therefore the muscle tearing process is not the source of pain.

When you finish working out, the body receives inflammatory messages from the torn muscles. Therefore, macrophages are released to clean the torn muscle tissues to kickstart the muscle-building process. Also, water released to the muscles leads to their swelling, giving you the impression that they have grown after only one gym session, when in fact they have not.

Furthermore, to assist with repairing torn muscle tissues, the body releases bradykinin. This substance increases the nerve growth factor, which is the cause of sensitive nerve endings. As a result, your muscles are sore when you attempt to move because of these hypersensitive nerve endings.

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How To Treat Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness

Painful as they are, DOMS is not hazardous to health. The pain usually goes away in about a week. Also, NSAIDs can help alleviate inflammation, just like ibuprofen. In addition, rub the sore area using a menthol rub to reduce the discomfort caused by pain. Another simple solution is to keep on working out every day, and you will be immune to DOMS.