Regular exercise is great for your overall health but after a good workout session, it’s not uncommon to experience muscle soreness in the following days. In most cases, the pain won’t last too long and is a sign that your endurance and strength and improving, however, getting too sore can be counterproductive and cause discomfort.
Here’s all you need to know about muscle soreness and exercise.
What does muscle soreness mean?
When you put stress on your muscles, Delayed Onset Muscles Soreness (DOMS) is a natural side effect and completely normal which usually starts within 6-8 hours after a new activity. The achiness is due to inflammation in the muscle.
Muscle soreness is also a sign that your muscles are slowly growing. To increase the size of muscles, you need to continually challenge the muscle with higher levels of resistance i.e heavier weights or longer endurance to see growth - this is known as muscle hypertrophy. As you challenge your muscles they will sustain small tears or injury. The body then repairs damaged fibres by fusing them, which increases the mass and size of the muscles.
What kind of exercise causes muscle soreness?
Although weight training is a very common cause of muscle soreness you can experience this after many types of exercise such as:
● Lifting free weights
● Using stationary weight machines
● Resistance band movements
● Bodyweight exercises and classes
● HIIT or intense cardio
If you’re trying something new and therefore using different muscle groups this can also challenge your mobility and strength by putting your muscles to work.
How can you ease muscle soreness?
Some people enjoy a little muscle soreness after exercising as they see it as a sign of a good workout, however, if you’re left feeling uncomfortable there are a few things you can do, such as:
● Take enough rest in between workouts.
● Don’t push yourself too soon during each workout instead take it steady.
● Stretch before and after exercising
● Use sports massage services to ease muscle pain
At The Hillsborough Chiropractic Clinic in Sheffield, our professional team is on hand to ease your muscle and joint pain. If you’re experiencing long-term discomfort from exercising, our sports massage service will target injury-prone areas before you cause further damage at the gym. Get in touch with us today for more information.
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