Muscle Soreness

Muscle Soreness Nearly anyone who works out regularly has experienced sore muscles after exercise. Sometimes you will feel it later that night, or the next morning and in some cases, you may actually think you are out of the woods, only to wake up two days later with stiff, tender muscles that feel as tight as rubber bands. For some people, sore muscles are a reward after a hard workout. In fact, some people are not happy unless they are sore after their workout, while others could live without it. Either way, all of us have probably experienced muscle soreness at one time or another. There are two types of exercise-related muscle soreness. Immediate muscle soreness or acute muscle soreness quickly disperse and is the pain you feel during, or immediately after, exercise. Delayed muscle soreness signals a natural adaptive process that the body initiates following intense exercise. This type of muscle soreness manifests itself 24 to 48 hours after the exercise session and spontaneously decreases after 72 hours. According to American Fitness Articles, muscle soreness present during a workout or the following recovery period is referred to as acute muscle soreness. It is caused by a reduction in blood flow to the muscle. This leads to an accumulation of the metabolic by-products of exercise hydrogen ions from lactic acid within the muscle tissue. Lactic acid is a normal by product of muscle metabolism, but it can irritate muscle and cause discomfort and soreness. These by-product also stimulates pain receptor, but the pain and soreness usually disappear when you stop exercising or shortly thereafter. On the other hand, muscle soreness felt a day or two after a heavy session of exercise is called delayed onset muscle soreness. Lactic acid is not the only culprit in delayed onset muscle soreness (Weil, 2007). Lactic acid is actually removed from muscle anywhere from just a few hours to less than a day after a workout, and so it does not explain the soreness

Cited: "Muscle Health : Delayed Muscle Soreness." Palm Desert Healing Arts Center : Home Page. Web. 10 Apr. 2011. <http://www.lovinghealinghands.com/7/16/delayed_Muscle_soreness.html>. Weil, Richard. "Muscle Soreness on MedicineNet.com." Web. 10 Apr. 2011. <http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=78966>.