Author : Anshul Dhamande, INFS Faculty, Standard Coach @ Fittr
Ever experienced a sore, painful feeling in the muscles after an unaccustomed workout? Well, you just suffered from Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, aka DOMS. Read on and know how you can deal with it.
Many lifters may have no memory of their first day at the gym but they will still remember how they felt the next day! Muscles so sore that even when they moved, they experienced pain. This is called DOMS. Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness is a common marker of muscle damage and its symptoms can range from muscle tenderness to severe pain.
commonly suggested ways to reduce doms and their effectiveness
stretching
Many recommend static stretching pre or post exercise as a measure to prevent or reduce DOMS as it is thought to relieve the muscle spasm. However, studies that have investigated the effect of stretching, prior to or before and after eccentric exercise, have shown no major positive effect of stretching on DOMS.
massage
A systematic review in 2017 involving 500+ participants found that massage therapy after strenuous exercise could be effective for reducing DOMS and improving muscle performance with the highest efficacy at 48h post-exercise. This could be due to increased blood flow during the vigorous massage which reduces any further damage associated with the inflammatory process.
active recovery & sleep
Even though you feel like not getting out of bed, being active and even just walking rather than not moving out of the bed can help recover from DOMS. Sleep deprivation worsens the pain and hence probably DOMS as well. A sound sleep of 7-8 hours is beneficial in overall recovery.
coldwater immersion / cryotherapy
Even though a review in 2016 found that CWI can be a little better than passive recovery, there is more research that has shown little or no attenuation of the magnitude of muscle soreness or recovery by cryotherapy.
conclusion
Static stretching pre or post exercise and cold water immersion (or cryotherapy) do not have any proven effect on DOMS. Vigorous massage therapy after strenuous exercise and sound sleep of 7-8 hours are a few measures that may possibly reduce DOMS.
references
https://journals.lww.com/cjsportsmed/abstract/1994/04000/effect_of_stretching_on_the_intensity_of.3.a
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2017.00747/full
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4802003/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16558163/
