Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.
Now that summer is finally with us
to stay, many people are motivated to get into exercising again. That is great!
One problem many people from new
exercisers to hardcore trainers run into is post exercise soreness. There is a
technical name for this pain in the muscles that occurs 1-2 days after the
workout; it is called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness or DOMS.
DOMS is actually caused by the
inflammation from small microscopic tearing of muscle fibers and surrounding
soft tissues. The damaged muscles release chemical irritants that contact pain
receptors and cause them to fire pain signals to the brain. Generally, the pain
of DOMS will go away within just a few days without lasting effects. In the
meantime, it will more than likely keep you from being as active as you’d like
to be, or just hinder normal movements with pain.
There are ways of reducing how much
DOMS you get with some prevention techniques and ways to reduce the
consequences of a hard workout with recovery efforts.
There are also some mistakes you do
not want to make as they will probably increase your pain post workout.
First, do not fall into the
“preventive” use of ibuprofen. I’ve heard many patients say they use pre
workout NSAIDS. Research on athletes show no difference in post workout pain by
taking NSAIDS. Their harmful side effects on the gut and heart are bad, but
they also inhibit collagen production which is essential to heal tissue and
bone.
Secondly, do not perform pre-exercise
static stretching. This is where you hold a stretch for 10-60 seconds. This
type of stretching actually leaves you more susceptible to injury by decreasing
blood flow, causing lactic acid buildup, which leads to local irritation and
tissue injury.
Several things can be done prior to
exercise to prevent as much tissue damage as possible.
Make sure you are fully hydrated
prior to, during, and after exercise. If that is not obvious, you have more
problems than DOMS.
Second, your warmup procedures must
include dynamic stretching of the groups of muscle you are about to exercise,
and at least 10 minutes of cardiovascular activity. Studies show this reduced
DOMS, but 10 minutes of “cooling down” afterwards had no effect on DOMS.
You can add foam rolling to your
regimen. Prior to exercise, focus on areas of current injury or trouble areas. After exercise, roll all areas exercised that
day.
Believe it or not, compression
garments do have scientific evidence for reducing soreness after exercise. They
help minimize swelling and fluid buildup that can delay healing.
After a workout, certain activities
can also help reduce your soreness.
While using ice directly after a
workout is not recommended as it actually delays the start of healing by about
a half a day, the use of ice baths or direct ice to areas of pain used 1 to 4
days post exercise has been shown to be effective to reduce pain.
Serious athletes look to nutrition
for a post workout benefit. Consuming quality protein immediately prior to
sleep, after strength training late at night effectively stimulates muscle synthesis
overnight. For the rest of us, drinking a whey protein shake within one hour of
exercise is a great way to resupply your muscles with all they need to recover
properly, with people having less soreness when using it than without it. It’s
the essential amino acids in whey protein, especially leucine, which is
specific to muscle growth and repair and helps reduce soreness quickly.
These proteins are why there is a
new fad of drinking chocolate milk after a workout. Milk also has good proteins in it for a boost
in recovery.
Taking organic sulfur or MSM, krill
oil, curcumin, ginger, astaxanthin, and eating cherries are all good
nutritional remedies for reducing inflammation post workout, or any time for
that matter.
There are two activities you want
to avoid when DOMS hits. One is just sitting on the couch. Studies show a brisk
walk stems the pain much better than rest.
Second, avoid going on an alcohol binge after exercise. Studies show
muscle protein synthesis decreases by 37% with six drinks in three hours. So a
night on the town after a big game, or heavy exercise actually leads to an
increase in the likelihood of future injury.
Keep on exercising, but keep these
tips in mind if you get sore afterwards.