Everything you should know about muscle soreness

For a long time, people thought that muscle soreness was caused by lactic acid. During intensive training at high pulse rates, lactate, the salt of lactic acid, is released. It was assumed that at some point the muscles could no longer break down the lactate quickly enough and that this caused pain. Today, however, we know that the pain from muscle soreness has a different cause. Unusual movements or strains cause tiny tears in the muscle fibers - we feel this as muscle soreness.

If the muscles are overstressed through intensive exercise, or if you perform new, unfamiliar movements , you will feel pain a few hours after the strain. The body then tries to repair these tiny tears in the muscle fibers, known as " microtraumas ", by flushing out inflammatory substances, which then come into contact with the nerve cells outside. Only then do we feel the pain, because there are no pain receptors in the muscle fibers themselves . However, because the flushing out of the inflammatory substances begins between 12 and 24 hours after the strain, we are not fully aware of the muscle soreness until the next day or the day after. This explanation also refutes the old lactate hypothesis, because lactate has a half-life of just 20 minutes.

There is no clear answer to this question. In order to provoke muscle growth, intensive stimulation is required. Simply training in a comfortable range and without great exertion is not enough. A slightly noticeable muscle ache can be a sign that the strain was sufficiently high. However, if you are in pain for several days, the strain was definitely too high. If this means you have to take a longer break from training, you have lost more than you have gained.

The most affected areas are the thigh and calf muscles. If you move or stretch these muscles, you feel a burning pain . It can feel as if you can feel every single muscle fiber. Most of the time, the pain builds up and often only reaches its peak on the third day after the overload. The muscles are then weak, sensitive to pressure, hard and stiff.

Sore muscles or strains?

Athletes are often faced with the question: Do I have harmless muscle soreness that the body will deal with on its own in a short time, or is it a strain that requires more caution in order to avoid causing greater damage?

The most important difference: The symptoms of a strain occur immediately and manifest themselves as a pulling sensation that increases slowly but steadily. For example, after a step that is too long, a quick sprint, a stop or change of direction, or an excessive exertion, whereas the pain from muscle soreness, as mentioned, occurs with a long delay, usually the day after.

If you have pulled a muscle, you should definitely take a break from exercise to prevent it from developing into a torn muscle fiber.

Stretch

The most common and simplest remedy for the pain caused by sore muscles is stretching. But be careful: intensive stretching exercises can increase the fine microtraumas and thus do more harm than good. Very gentle stretching, on the other hand, can be helpful in stimulating and accelerating the redevelopment of muscle structures.

Use Armelite Juniper Cream. Apply some cream to the affected areas and massage in gently. After a while, the essential oils in the cream will start to work.