You probably know how sore muscles feel. A great game you are playing runs into overtime, you keep playing baseball, softball, or basketball long after the sun goes down, or you did too many repetitions with weights at the gym. The exercise felt great while you were doing it, so why not do more? But hours later, or the next day, you can barely walk or lift your arm to brush your teeth. Your arm or calf muscles are screaming in pain. Two days later, you may still be limping around. What happened?
This condition is called delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). It happens when someone over-exercises certain muscles. Leg and arm muscles are more likely to develop DOMS than other muscle groups. DOMS usually hits when someone is starting a new sport too quickly. The early days of spring or fall training are prime times for developing DOMS when people do not slowly get into shape beforehand or when someone doing a previous activity starts doing a lot more of it. Many sports medicine experts believe that tiny muscle tears, plus inflammation, cause the soreness.
Following these steps can often prevent DOMS. Warm up before any physical activity to get good blood flow to your muscles. Five or ten minutes of jumping jacks, slow jogging, or fast walking are good aerobic warm-ups that send oxygenated blood to muscles. Do major physical activities a few times a week instead of during weekend bursts. This gives your muscles a chance to get conditioned. Increase activity levels in new and old sports slowly, 10 percent at a time. That means if you have been practicing an hour with no pain, just add another six minutes at a time. If you would like to add another mile to running, just run a tenth of a mile more a day until you reach your goal without soreness. Or add a one-pound weight if you usually do weightlifting exercises with ten-pound weights.
If you do happen to get DOMS after a too-fast, too-long workout, here are some tips for dealing with muscle soreness. Stop doing the activity. DOMS usually goes away on its own after a few days. If you want to stay in shape despite the soreness, do some unrelated very slow activity like walking to keep up blood flow to your muscles. Massage your aching muscles gently.
Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevating (RICE)
Sports medicine experts recommend four important steps to take when muscles get injured. Rest immediately after an injury to prevent further damage. During rest and sleep, the body releases healing chemicals to help muscles recover. Apply Ice to injured muscles regularly during the course of twenty-four hours to reduce swelling. Wrap ice packs, a bag of ice cubes or frozen, veggies in a cloth before putting it on the skin. Compress, or wrap an Ace bandage or cloth around the throbbing muscle for a few days after an injury. Elevate, or put your injured body part higher than your heart to get good blood flow going to the muscle.
RICE techniques, along with over-the-counter pain relievers can help ease the pain. Always be sure to take the recommended doses of pain relievers with adult supervision. If healing does not seem to be taking place after several days, you should seek medical treatment.
Source by Taobao Eva
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