QUESTION: If I exercise for any length of time, I can develop a muscle soreness that doesn't show up for two or three days.
Is there anything special about this pain and what should I do to treat it?
ANSWER: This is called delayed-onset muscle soreness and is thought to be caused by structural damage to muscle fibers after a certain kind of exercise, and this damage takes longer to heal. When you lift a weight your muscles contract and you produce a force to raise the load against gravity, which is called "concentric" exercise.
But when you lower the same weight your muscles produce the same amount of force to slow down the descent of the weight, which is called "eccentric exercise." Sports and exercise physiologists now believe that delayed-onset muscle soreness is caused by structural damage to skeletal muscle after eccentric exercise, in which muscles produce force while lengthening, as in running downhill. This damage may take as long as 12 weeks to be repaired by the body.
So athletes should allow plenty of time for recovery after events that may cause extreme muscle soreness.
Patience, along with heat, the appropriate use of analgesics and rest will be your allies in your recovery. Because training that involves eccentric exercise has been shown to prevent delayed-onset muscle soreness and muscle damage, you should pay special attention to the eccentric part of any exercise or sports you engage in.
For runners this would mean running downhill during training as well as uphill.
This will strengthen the eccentric part of your leg muscles, and thus help prevent structural damage.
And prevention is always the best medicine.
The material contained here is "FOR INFORMATION ONLY" and should not replace the counsel and advice of your personal physician.
Promptly consulting your doctor is the best path to a quick and successful resolution of any medical problem.
