Why Do Muscles Hurt the Day After Exercise? How to Prevent It?
Why Do Muscles Hurt the Day After Exercise? How to Prevent It?
2003-07-08
Many people notice that muscle soreness doesn't appear immediately after exercise but shows up the next day or even the third day, lasting 2–3 days before gradually subsiding. If muscle soreness were caused by lactic acid buildup during exercise, it should peak immediately after activity. Why does it appear only the following day? What causes this soreness? And how can we reduce or prevent it?
This type of muscle soreness, appearing 24 hours after exercise, is medically known as "delayed onset muscle soreness" (DOMS). Soreness peaks between 24–72 hours post-exercise and usually resolves within 5–7 days. Besides soreness, symptoms include muscle stiffness—mild cases involve tenderness upon pressure, severe cases show swelling and impaired movement. Any skeletal muscle can experience DOMS after intense exercise, especially after long-distance running. Runners often report pain in the hip, thigh, and front and back lower leg muscles, particularly at the muscle-tendon junctions. In hot summer conditions, extreme exertion may also lead to dehydration, low calcium, and low protein levels. The exact cause of DOMS remains unclear.
Most believe that overuse of muscles leads to muscle soreness, possibly due to:
1. Sudden increase in muscle tension and elasticity causing physical damage to muscle structural components.
2. Increased metabolism leading to higher accumulation of metabolic waste products, which become toxic to tissues.
3. Changes in neural regulation causing muscle spasms and pain.
How to Prevent It?
1. Exercise planning should be reasonable. After consistent training, the same exercise intensity that previously caused soreness will produce fewer symptoms. This effect is specific—for example, after training involving downhill running, subsequent downhill sessions cause less soreness.
2. Local warmth and topical applications. Soaking in warm water after exercise helps reduce muscle soreness. Applying ointments, pastes, or massage agents locally can also alleviate pain.
3. Stretching exercises can relieve soreness. Stretching accelerates muscle relaxation and reduces tension in antagonistic muscles, aiding recovery. This stretching also helps prevent muscle strains during exercise.
4. Perform proper warm-up and cool-down routines. Adequate warm-up and appropriate cool-down activities help prevent or reduce muscle soreness.