Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness

Did you get into the exercising outfit after a long break? Are you experiencing a weird sort of muscular pain even two days after exercising? Then, this is probably delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). It is a condition that develops in the muscles when the body is not used to stretching or exercising. It has been observed through case studies that when the body is subjected to unknown or unfamiliar physical strain, the muscles undergo a bit of stress and may get slightly damaged. Sore muscles after workout is a common phenomenon. If you continue to exercise the muscles get used to the physical activity and develop something known as muscle memory or acclimatization. The initial phase of muscle soreness can hamper your daily routine.

What is Delayed Onset Muscular Soreness?
This condition was first described by Theodore Hough in 1902. He claimed that the soreness of muscles is due to ruptures in the muscle. DOMS is a condition that is characterized by sore, stiff and aching muscle. The pain and muscle soreness is felt when the muscle is subjected to contraction. This condition sets in within 8 - 24 hours of exercising. The symptoms are the strongest after a day of exercising and the pain lasts for around five days after which it subsides. Apart from stiffness and soreness a slight swelling may also be observed. The reason behind this being slight microscopic tear of the muscle or cellular damage. This condition cannot be termed as an injury as it is felt by every person performing strenuous activities. The pain is a result of an inflammatory response of the body to the cellular damage that is caused. Recovery from soreness may take a week.

The root cause of soreness can be attributed to the following.

• Stressing the muscle beyond its tolerance limits.
• Increasing the intensity of your exercise.
• Increasing the duration of the physical activity.

Treatment Options
There are a various ways in which you can get sore muscle relief. Following home remedies will definitely soothe your muscles.

Ice Bath
A bath in ice water for around 20 minutes immediately after a strenuous workout or run gets rid of waste products and diminishes the possibility of swelling due to tissue or cell damage.

Heat Treatment
A heat pack can be applied to muscles which you think might get sore after a workout. Heat increases the blood flow and thus increases the supply of oxygen to the strained muscles. During a workout the muscles work in the absence of oxygen, thus a supply of oxygen after the workout can be beneficial for recovery from stress.

Stay Active
Try not to rest immediately after a workout. Keep moving and let your muscles not go into a complete rest mode. Walking around is a low impact exercise that can help in preventing the onset of delayed muscle soreness.

Stretching
Pre-workout and post-workout stretching is of utmost importance before subjecting yourself to a heavy workout. The muscles should get some prior training in light exercises which helps them loosen and adjust better to a little more stress.

Adapting to the Pain
Endurance training such as running, swimming and cycling gets your body acclimatized to the pain and increases the pain threshold. This is exercise-induced analgesia. Once the muscle undergoes stress or small damage after the first exercise, it tends to rapidly adapt to prevent any further damage from the exercise. This tendency of the muscle to adapt and prevent damage is known as repeated-bout effect. Thus the key to get rid of DOMS is to keep exercising in a proper and correct manner so that your body slowly adapts to the change.

DOMS is thus not a disease or serious injury, but inappropriate methods and exercise regimes can cause serious muscle damage. Therefore you need to be careful before you begin training.