Muscle soreness facts

Muscle soreness

Muscle soreness is a condition that everyone has experienced and it is marked by the extreme stretching of the muscles that usually happens when doing the some hard and strenuous activities. Furthermore, this condition usually happens when an inactive person starts to exercise regularly. The pain that appears in the first several days of the exercising is actually muscle soreness. This condition is not very serious, but the pain that occurs may unable many to perform everyday activities and obligations, and even simple walking and sitting can be a torture in some cases.

Causes of muscle soreness

There are many causes of the muscle soreness. However, these causes are different depending on whether the pain occurs immediately during certain activity, or after some time, when we are resting, for example. It is very usual that one feels the pain while running, for instance. In such cases, the main causes of the muscle soreness are sprain, strain or tear in the muscles. The most common symptoms of such injury are swelling and bruising. The pain may also occur when the muscle spasm blocks the blood circulation. Therefore, due to the oxygen insufficiency, that part of the body becomes painful.

On the other hand, almost everybody has experienced the pain in the muscles that occurs a day after some strenuous activity. However, sometimes it can be very serious. When the muscle soreness prolongs and does not cease, it is due to the partial or complete blockage of the artery. In such cases, the doctor should be visited immediately.

DOMS – delayed onset of muscle soreness is a condition that is related to the delayed response of the muscle soreness. There have been many speculations about the real cause of this condition. Although it was thought for some time that the cause is that accumulation of lactic acid in the muscles, the opinion was soon abandoned because the pain in the muscle induced in such way would not appear after a day, but after an hour or two. There is also a theory that states that the delayed response of muscle soreness happens as a natural inflammatory response of the immune system, because the level of the white blood cells increases after some strenuous activities.

Remedies for the muscle soreness

When one feels muscle soreness, there are several things that he/she can do. First of all, a rest is recommended. Applying of the cold or heat packs on the painful area can also be very helpful. Massages, certain medicines and stretching are some of the recommended methods that are very effective when the muscle soreness occurs.