How to relieve sore muscles

Sore Muscles? No need to endure, you can find relief

Sore muscles can happen for various reasons: exercise, tension, stress, overuse, injury, you name it.

Muscle soreness doesn’t have to prevent you from living your best life though. There are ways you can treat sore muscles in order to better cope so you can do the things you want to do.

L Micole Krum, DPT says muscle soreness happens when you put stress on your muscles and experience muscle inflammation. This can often occur the day after exercising. There are different types of muscle soreness; this kind is called delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). Anyone can experience muscle soreness. People who start a new workout program, exercise, or increase an exercise’s intensity can feel the effects of DOMS.

The other type of muscle soreness is called acute muscle soreness. This soreness is felt immediately. Acute muscle soreness happens due to lactic acid build-up.

Muscle soreness is nothing to worry about, it is a common occurrence. It often means you are progressing towards getting stronger. Nevertheless, soreness and muscle pain can be very unpleasant to have. Rather than enduring, try some of these ways to relieve soreness:

Perform gentle exercises– Get movin’ and groovin’ to make discomfort go away faster. Simply walking can ease soreness
Use a heating pad– Heat can relieve discomfort temporarily
Take a warm bath– May ease discomfort
Apply ice– Helps decreases swelling and inflammation

WebMD provides you can also find relief through anti-inflammatory medication, massage, heat, stretching, and rest.

Some other quick fixes for exercise-induced soreness include:

Hydration
Self-myofascial release (SMR)
Eating (within a half-hour)
Sleep later on
Light exercise the day after

According to Lauren Bedosky, painkillers are often used for muscle soreness but it may not be the best method to relieve soreness. Although they work, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) could prevent the muscle from growing back bigger and stronger.

Healthline says you can turn to anti-inflammatory foods instead. Foods rich in antioxidants may relieve muscle soreness like watermelon, cherry juice, pineapple, and ginger. Antioxidant supplements could also help.

If your muscle soreness is serious, it can be damaging. It could mean an injury is causing your muscle soreness. Injuries can range from mild to moderate to severe and should be properly addressed and cared for. Other serious causes include infection, illness, or an adverse side-effect to medication. Mayo Clinic lists as many as 19 common causes of muscle pain.

They advise seeing a doctor immediately if dizziness, trouble breathing, weakness, high fever, and a stiff neck accompanies your muscle pain. You should schedule an appointment if you have a tick bite, rash, signs of infection (redness and swelling), muscle pain after taking medication, or persisting muscle pain.