Written by Ingyu B. (KIS '21)
━━ January 21th, 2020 ━━
Have you ever worked out a specific body part—like your legs—and the next day you couldn’t walk because they ached so badly?
Yes? Well then, you’ve experienced DOMS.
Delayed onset muscle soreness—or DOMS for short—occurs after a workout following a “period of reduced activity” (Cheung). Simply put, DOMS is the soreness an individual feels the day after he/she works out for the first time in a while. “A while” may range from a week, a month, a year, or never having worked out before. Another situation in which you may experience DOMS, although not as common, is when you perform new exercises your body isn’t used to. But while the scientific definition of DOMS only refers to the soreness one feels after a workout, we’ll refer to DOMS as not only the soreness after a workout but also the limiting effects it has on one’s flexibility, performance, muscular contractile properties, and pressure pain threshold.
People experience DOMS largely due to the microtears that happen in muscle fibers that occur during the eccentric portion of a specific exercise, like the downwards motion of the arm during a dumbbell curl—when your bicep muscle fibers lengthen under tension.
The severity of DOMS can range from being mild to unbearable(to the point where you have trouble performing daily activities like getting up from bed or walking to the bathroom). And while DOMS is perfectly normal, most gym newcomers who aren’t already aware of this condition often never step back into the gym because of it. But after 2~3 workouts, DOMS tends to completely disappear and sooner or later, the soreness will be the least of worries. That is, of course, assuming that these 2~3 workouts have little to no difference from each other. Mentioned previously, DOMS can also occur when you put different types of strains on your body. An example would be the transition from powerlifting to plyometrics.
However today, regardless of whether you’ve experienced DOMS through having not been in the gym since last year or starting a completely different type of training, I’m here to teach you three practical methods in which you can reduce the severity of DOMS. But before we jump ahead, it’s important to note that sleep is probably the most critical factor when recovering from soreness. Without sleep, these methods are practically meaningless.
Multi Ingredient Beverages
Multi-ingredient beverages or electrolytes is the simplest option out of the three. There is a multitude of brands and flavors of these drinks which make it enjoyable to some. A study done last month showed that multi-ingredient beverage consumption allowed all muscle contractile properties to fully recover within 48 hours of working out compared to the typical 96 hour recovery period. Furthermore, strength and power returned to their original baseline values after roughly 24 hours of the workout, only half the time it took for strength and power to return to baseline values in the absence of multi-ingredient beverages.
Cold Showers/Baths
This method may not seem very appealing to some, especially during winter. Nevertheless, cold showers/baths have their benefits. A recent study showed that DOMS recovery quicken with a form of cold water exposure, whether it be cold baths or cryotherapy, compared to none. But between cryotherapy and cold baths, cold baths are better because while any effect on any functional measures of the targeted muscle was absent, cold water immersion actually “elicited generally greater physiological effects compared with” (Hohenauer) cryotherapy.
Foam Rolling
Foam rolling is commonly used by professional athletes not only because it reduces DOMS but also because of several other benefits. A recently conducted study observed an “increased pressure-pain threshold, improved joint position sense, attenuated force loss, and reduced threshold to detect passive movement” in addition to reduced muscle soreness or DOMS in people who performed foam rolling after each workout compared to those who didn't. When done properly, it typically takes 10~15 minutes and can even be replaced by simpler alternatives like active recovery or long cooldowns, but when time is precious, foam rolling is the best choice.
Now you know three ways you can reduce the DOMS you’re dreading the morning after a new, intense workout. But there may be one particular question that may have arisen as you’ve read this article.
“Should I still workout when I’m only sore?”
It depends.
The best thing to do is to listen to your body. While exercising a still severely sore body part isn’t recommended and may even elongate DOMS, exercising while only mildly sore may help alleviate DOMS further. The threshold in soreness between whether you can work out or not, however, differs among individuals.
But on the large scale of working out, it is important to note that the points mentioned above are assuming proper form, safety precautions, and adequate sleep is present. When pain persists for more than one week in a particular spot, it’s a good sign that it isn’t DOMS but rather a developing chronic injury that originated from improper posture. In this case, foam rolling, cold showers, or electrolytes will do little to no good to help alleviate the pain but rather it’s advised to seek professional help.
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Credits:
Akinci, Buket, et al. “The Effectiveness of Three Different Recovery Methods on Blood Lactate,
Acute Muscle Performance, and Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness: a Randomized Comparative Study.” The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Mar. 2020, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31684705.
Cheung, Karoline, et al. “Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness : Treatment Strategies and Performance
Factors.” Sports Medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), U.S. National Library of Medicine, 23 Oct. 2012, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12617692.
Hohenauer, Erich, et al. “Partial-Body Cryotherapy (-135°C) and Cold-Water Immersion (10°C)
after Muscle Damage in Females.” Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2 Nov. 2019, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31677292.
Maloney, Lisa, and Aubrey Bailey. “Dangerous Post-Workout Soreness.” LIVESTRONG.COM,
Leaf Group, www.livestrong.com/article/543348-dangerous-post-workout-soreness/.
Mavropalias, Georgios, et al. “Comparison between High- and Low-Intensity Eccentric Cycling
of Equal Mechanical Work for Muscle Damage and the Repeated Bout Effect.” European Journal of Applied Physiology, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 13 Mar. 2020, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32170443.
Naclerio, Fernando, et al. “Effects of a Multi-Ingredient Beverage on Recovery of Contractile
Properties, Performance, and Muscle Soreness After Hard Resistance Training Sessions.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 13 Feb. 2020, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32058364.
Naderi, Aynollah, et al. “Foam Rolling and Muscle and Joint Proprioception After
Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage.” Journal of Athletic Training, National Athletic Trainers Association, Jan. 2020, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31855077.
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