What Causes Muscle Soreness And What To Do After You Get It

What Causes Muscle Soreness And What To Do After You Get It- After a tough workout or a day full of physical activity, it is common to find your muscles aching.

But where do these pains come from?

“The soreness comes from straining your muscles in an uncommon way,” explains Ingo Froboese, a professor in Cologne, Germany.

Soreness can happen, for example, when you jump on a bike and cycle after not having done so in a long while, the professor says.

The next day, your leg muscles will feel like jelly because they are no longer accustomed to that movement.

How soreness happens

When muscles perform an activity they are not regularly exposed to, the tiny fibres that are inside the muscle are being torn apart.

“Muscle soreness develops, and the body has to work to repair the muscle tears,” Froboese continues.

But this does not happen immediately; first the body must realise the muscles are damaged.

The body’s natural response is to increase blood flow to the area and increase body heat.

This is similar to small inflammations that would appear elsewhere on the body.

Damaged cells are cleaned up and the body deploys cells specially designed to break down the large muscle fibre fragments.

How long for it to heal?

It takes about a day until these cells make it to your aching muscles, which is why there is most often a delay associated with muscle soreness.

Repair of damaged cells takes about two days, and afterwards the soreness disappears.

“A sore muscle is not a bad thing, and it is not an illness,” the professor explains.

Before long you might notice you are free of pain but feel weak or lame.

This is quite common.

Treating muscle soreness

Unfortunately, there is little that can be done to alleviate muscle soreness.

Topical ointments advertise relief from soreness, but, according to Froboese, these are useless.

The aching muscles lie so deep below the surface of the skin’s several layers that the ointments never reach them.

However, sometimes it helps to move and walk for a bit.

A hot shower or warm bath can also provide some relief, Froboese says.