The Truth About Muscle Soreness- Is It Good Or Bad?

By Dr. Katie Casto, PT, DPT

As we embark on a journey into the new year, many of us have goals we are setting out to reach- and many are related to health and fitness. As you may begin a new fitness journey in 2021 it’s important to keep in mind that setting up a plan as to HOW you will reach your goals is just as important as setting the goals themselves. For those fitness related goals, a crucial factor to include in your plan is recovery.

Why is it important to prioritize recovery with your new fitness endeavors? 
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“Overdoing it” without proper recovery (what many of us tend to do with our New Year’s resolutions) can be problematic. Without taking steps to prioritize recovery, we can experience a multitude of negative effects. Although it is important to include exercise at the appropriate intensity to challenge our bodies, it is just as important to give our bodies the TIME to adapt properly and recover fully in order to see the progress you want and stay on track toward reaching your goals without being sidelined by pain or an injury.

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How do you know if you are not taking enough time for recovery?
One sign that we may be overdoing it is something we are all familiar with: muscle soreness. DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) refers to the soreness, associated muscle damage and local inflammation we experience typically 2-3 days after participating in a new type of activity, especially if it involves eccentric (working the muscle as it lengthens) strengthening (Hotfiel et al., 2018). 

In addition to the discomfort and localized muscular soreness associated with DOMS, it is associated with additional negative factors:

• Decreased muscle strength
• Decreased range of motion
• Decline in physical performance (Heiss et al., 2018)
• Increased risk for injury if participating in subsequent high level activities while experiencing DOMS (Hody et al., 2019)
• Poor tolerance for physical activity

Soreness is not necessarily a sign of a “good” workout. It can be a sign of poor recovery especially if you are regularly sore or experience severe soreness, and can prevent you from being able to participate in physical activity for days after. It is one of the most common reasons for decreased muscle performance in sports (Heiss et al., 2018).

How can you improve your recovery? Consider these 4 factors:
Foam rolling
Foam rolling can be a beneficial tool for enhancing recovery after a tough workout by increasing blood flow to the muscles.

• Research shows that it can be effective for:
  • enhancing performance recovery, 
  • reducing DOMS (muscle soreness), 
  • improving performance (sprinting, muscle strength measures, etc.) (Akinci et al., 2020; Pearce et al., 2015)
• Foam rolling can help you feel less sore, and also improve your performance in subsequent workouts. I make sure to include 5-10 minutes of foam rolling after weight training.

Active recovery
Another helpful way to boost your recovery is through active recovery! It can be beneficial to incorporate active movements rather than static stretching (long holds) into your cool down after your workout or on your recovery days.

• Active recovery can include things like going for a walk or bike ride, active mobility work/active stretches, and low intensity exercise/movements. 
• Research demonstrates that active recovery has similar benefits to foam rolling with enhancing performance recovery and reducing DOMS (Akinci et al., 2020; Dupuy et al., 2018).

Try this quick series out if you want an idea what active recovery looks like!

Sleep
An often forgotten but quite possibly the MOST important factor to consider with recovery (according to researchers) is sleep. There is a lot of evidence that supports the detrimental effects of not getting enough sleep:

• Decreased running performance, sprint times and distances covered
• Decreased strength 
• Decreased sports skills (soccer kicks, tennis serve accuracy)
• Quicker time to exhaustion (Vitale et al., 2019)
• Increased risk for injury (Milewski et al., 2014)

Fortunately, many of these effects can be reversed or even improved by simply improving sleep habits. The key takeaway here is to get enough sleep to improve your recovery so you can stay on track with your fitness goals.

Gradual progression of exercise
It is crucial to have an exercise program that sets you up for success. It’s best to gradually increase exercise parameters rather than taking an all or nothing approach (which too many of us do with new year’s resolutions). Some things to keep in mind:

• Program rest/recovery days into your exercise plan! 
• A well rounded strength/exercise program should leave you feeling better with higher energy levels; not worse, in pain and exhausted. 
• Although we want to be able to challenge our bodies so adaptations can occur, we need to do so in a way that is gradual so we are able to consistently participate in the activity.

Unsure of how to set up a fitness or exercise program that works for you? Contact us- we’d love to help! We have plenty of options to best suite your needs and assist with your goals this New Year.

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References:
Akinci B, Zenginler Yazgan Y, Altinoluk T. The effectiveness of three different recovery methods on blood lactate, acute muscle performance, and delayed-onset muscle soreness: a randomized comparative study. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2020 Mar;60(3):345-354. doi: 10.23736/S0022-4707.19.10142-9. Epub 2019 Oct 28. PMID: 31684705.
Pearcey GE, Bradbury-Squires DJ, Kawamoto JE, Drinkwater EJ, Behm DG, Button DC. Foam rolling for delayed-onset muscle soreness and recovery of dynamic performance measures. J Athl Train. 2015 Jan;50(1):5-13. doi: 10.4085/1062-6050-50.1.01. Epub 2014 Nov 21. PMID: 25415413; PMCID: PMC4299735.
Milewski MD, Skaggs DL, Bishop GA, Pace JL, Ibrahim DA, Wren TA, Barzdukas A. Chronic lack of sleep is associated with increased sports injuries in adolescent athletes. J Pediatr Orthop. 2014 Mar;34(2):129-33. doi: 10.1097/BPO.0000000000000151. PMID: 25028798.
Vitale KC, Owens R, Hopkins SR, Malhotra A. Sleep Hygiene for Optimizing Recovery in Athletes: Review and Recommendations. Int J Sports Med. 2019 Aug;40(8):535-543. doi: 10.1055/a-0905-3103. Epub 2019 Jul 9. PMID: 31288293; PMCID: PMC6988893.
Dupuy O, Douzi W, Theurot D, Bosquet L, Dugué B. An Evidence-Based Approach for Choosing Post-exercise Recovery Techniques to Reduce Markers of Muscle Damage, Soreness, Fatigue, and Inflammation: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis. Front Physiol. 2018 Apr 26;9:403. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2018.00403. PMID: 29755363; PMCID: PMC5932411.
Hotfiel T, Freiwald J, Hoppe MW, Lutter C, Forst R, Grim C, Bloch W, Hüttel M, Heiss R. Advances in Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS): Part I: Pathogenesis and Diagnostics. Sportverletz Sportschaden. 2018 Dec;32(4):243-250. English. doi: 10.1055/a-0753-1884. Epub 2018 Dec 11. PMID: 30537791.
Heiss R, Hotfiel T, Kellermann M, May MS, Wuest W, Janka R, Nagel AM, Uder M, Hammon M. Effect of Compression Garments on the Development of Edema and Soreness in Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS). J Sports Sci Med. 2018 Aug 14;17(3):392-401. PMID: 30116112; PMCID: PMC6090402.
​Hody S, Croisier JL, Bury T, Rogister B, Leprince P. Eccentric Muscle Contractions: Risks and Benefits. Front Physiol. 2019 May 3;10:536. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2019.00536. PMID: 31130877; PMCID: PMC6510035