How to Prevent Sore Muscle: Quick Relief Tips

We can prevent sore muscles or at least make sure that the pain is not too severe. Here you can learn how to do this.

What exactly is sore muscles?

Probably everyone has felt unpleasant muscle ache after a hard training: the muscles feel hard and ache even at the slightest strain. Sore muscles are caused by the finest injuries in the muscle fibres, for example when you start exercising again after a longer break or when you train more than usual. Fortunately, the phenomenon is harmless – usually sore muscles heal on their own within a few days.

Causes and process: What happens with sore muscles?

In the past it was assumed that increased strain on the muscles led to increased production of lactic acid – which then caused the painful muscle soreness. Today it is known that so-called micro lesions in the muscle tissue are responsible for the complaints. These fine cracks in the muscle fibres are mainly caused by simultaneous tension and stretching of the muscle. Fluid seeps through the cracks into the muscle tissue, whereupon the muscle fibre swells and stretches – causing pain.

But that is not all: In addition, the blood vessels also constrict and the muscle tissue is no longer supplied with sufficient blood. A hardening or tension of the muscles occurs, which makes the pain worse. And: the body breaks down cell structures in the muscle fibres. This results in so-called cleavage products, which cause irritation to the nerves and also cause pain due to sore muscles.

Why is muscle soreness delayed?

Muscle ache always occurs only a few hours up to one day after training. This is because the nerve endings that send the pain signal to the brain are not located in the muscle fibres, but in the surrounding connective tissue. Therefore, we only perceive the pain when the accumulated fluid presses on it.

To prevent sore muscles with these tips

In order to protect our muscles and prevent muscle soreness, here are a few tips for athletes and all those who want to become athletes:

• Warming up: No matter if professional or not – before the sport you should always warm up to prevent sore muscles. Trotting lightly on the spot and stretching exercises loosen the muscles and reduce the risk of injury. Here you can find more warm-up exercises.
• Start slowly: Nobody should go directly from 0 to 100 in training. This is especially true if you have recently taken a break from the sport for a while or are starting from scratch.
• Increase the intensity: In order for muscles, ligaments and tendons to gradually withstand more, the intensity of the training should be increased slowly. Constant training is important for this.
• Maintain regeneration: When a muscle has been stressed by training, it needs a certain amount of recovery time to recover and grow. If you absolutely want to continue training, you should focus on a different muscle group and spare the muscle that has already been strained.

Extra tip for successful training: In order for muscles to grow, they need a lot of protein in addition to the appropriate exercise. So if in doubt, check your diet if you have the feeling that training does not help.

What to do for sore muscles?

Unfortunately, during intensive training, despite all the measures taken, it is not always possible to avoid getting sore or hardened muscles. Home remedies for sore muscles can help to get rid of the complaints quickly. Alternating showers with hot and cold water, for example, ensure good blood circulation.