Why Do Muscles Get Sore During or After Exercise?

You feel a stiffness come over you a few hours after finishing your workout. It begins with a slight twinge of discomfort, often located in the largest muscles of the body. As time progresses, the soreness increases to true discomfort. This reminder of your last workout has an official medical name called delayed onset muscle soreness. This type of soreness affects most individuals after a bout of rigorous exercise.

Significance

Muscles exist throughout the body to help protect and control the movement of our skeleton. The types of muscles typically used during exercise are called skeletal muscles. Our brains send messages to our muscles to control movement. Muscles attach to bones with tendons that resemble elastic bands. Muscles and tendons flex and move as we request various movements during daily activity and exercise. When we request too much or exercise to the point of fatigue, our muscles protest the exertion.

Features

Muscle soreness results from simple overuse or microscopic tears in the muscle fibers. Each muscle has a maximum level of stretching ability. When we exceed this level, soreness appears. However, this isn't always bad. When exercising, you need to exert yourself and your muscles to improve your physical conditioning. Muscles require stretching during exercise and recovery time to increase strength and endurance. This is why trainers and exercise professionals recommend increasing resistance in weight lifting and training slowly over time to challenge the muscles.

Effects

Muscle soreness during and after exercise includes a variety of symptoms that differ by the individual. Many experience a general feeling of soreness and fatigue in the muscles after a hard workout. Muscle soreness can cause areas that are painful to touch on the body, slight swelling and redness. Stiffness and loss of strength commonly occur within 24 to 48 hours of performing rigorous exercise, according to the University of New Mexico Department of Exercise Science. These symptoms are temporary and should resolve within three days.

Prevention

Preventing muscle soreness during and after exercise presents a difficult situation for physical fitness buffs and trainers. Since we need to stress our muscles to increase strength capacity, some soreness simply happens because we're exercising. However, adding a good warm-up routine to your workout will prepare your muscles for exercise. Warm-ups heat up the muscle fibers and gently increases the heart rate to help your body respond better to exercise. Cool downs work the same way. After vigorous exercise, cooling down allows the body to transition from exercise mode. Cool downs should include very gentle stretching to increase muscle flexibility while the muscles are already warmed up.

Misconceptions

Not all muscle soreness during and after exercises results from these common microscopic tears to the muscle fibers. Acute or sharp pain should never be ignored. Cease activity immediately if you feel pain. Muscle soreness should make you ache, not gasp in pain. Discomfort should be tolerable with general pain management such as over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medication, ice packs and rest. Fitness professionals recommend alternating exercise days to allow for muscle recovery time.

References

• University of New Mexico
• American Council on Exercise