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DOMS – Ouch!

DOMS – Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness

Have you recently resumed training or exercise, or maybe just ramped things up a little? Feeling that familiar next day soreness? Welcome to DOMS – Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. Yes, it has a name and anyone is susceptible to it.

So what exactly is DOMS? The name says it all – it is that “next day” or delayed muscle soreness you feel after exercise. The soreness typically begins to develop 12-24 hours after the exercise has been performed and may produce the greatest pain between 24-72 hours later.

DOMS can result from any type of activity, but strength training, downhill walking/running, stairs and plyometric exercise are all known DOMS triggers. (I think we can safely add metafit to that list too) These activities all cause muscles to lengthen while force is applied – this is eccentric muscle action. A metafit example of eccentric loading is the landing phase in a jump – the quadriceps muscle is lengthening while the leg breaks against your body’s momentum as it absorbs the landing impact.

It is believed that the muscle soreness develops as a result of microscopic damage to the muscle fibres involved in the exercise. DOMS appears to be a by-product or side effect of the repair process that develops in response to the microscopic muscle damage.

The severity of the soreness depends on the type of forces placed on the muscle.

  • Running down hill will place greater force on muscle than walking down the same hill, therefore soreness is likely to be greater after running
  • Full impact/jumping burpees will place greater force on muscle than stepping through, therefore soreness is likely to be greater after full-impact burpees
  • Increasing the time under tension in the eccentric phase of a press-up (ie. taking 5-6 sec to lower to the floor) will place greater tension on the muscle than if lowering down in 1 sec, therefore more likely to be sore after eccentric press-ups than regular press-ups
  • A high number of repetitions will cause more damage and soreness than a lower number of reps

Unfortunately, the bad news is that ALL of us are susceptible to DOMS, even those of us who have been exercising for eons! The good news however, is the severity of the soreness will normally reduce as your body adapts to the work it regularly performs. (One of the many reasons to stay active and keep moving) In fact, just one bout of soreness-producing exercise actually has a partial protective effect that reduces the chance of developing soreness in that same activity for weeks or months into the future. As an example, explosive jacks performed on day 1 of term 1 may/will probably induce soreness but not so much or at all on day 30.

All the theory in the world won’t help ease the pain, so here are a few suggestions that may (no guarantee though!):

  •  Ice packs
  • Massage
  • Tender-point acupressure
  • Foam roller massage
  • Oral pain relief

It’s important to remember that these treatments may be effective in reducing symptoms of pain, but the underlying muscle damage and reduced function may persist. If the pain becomes debilitating, you experience swelling or notable loss of function, please seek medical advice and treatment.

Active recovery or light activity – walking, spinning with very little resistance, stretching, mobility exercises, water walking/hydrotherapy – will often reduce symptoms during the activity, but (may) return after recovery. Light activity is unlikely to impair your recovery, but if experiencing severe symptoms exercise could make matters worse. DOMS should only last a few days (usually 3-5 days) and the muscles involved will be better prepared for future bouts of the same type of exercise.

Finally – please don’t fall victim to the old saying “no pain, no gain”. When starting out, returning to, or increasing your training it is unlikely that you can avoid muscle soreness altogether. However, pain does NOT need to be present to indicate gains in strength or fitness. Pain may indicate a need to reduce or refrain from an activity, particularly if that pain is felt during exercise (ie. acute). If acute pain (not soreness) is felt, it could indicate a problem with the exercise (too intense, bad form, too heavy, etc) and should be stopped before muscle or joint damage occurs.

So, there you have it. We are ALL susceptible to DOMS, particularly when manipulating more than one variable eg. either the intensity, duration, frequency or type of exercise. How to avoid that dreaded “I can’t get up” feeling? STAY ACTIVE, build-up slowly, “listen” to the signals your body is sending you, what you CAN do and what you SHOULD do are not always the same, and finally if you are feeling pain DURING exercise BACK OFF or STOP, and ALWAYS allow for sufficient recovery between sessions.

Happy training xx

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