Any help for treating DOMS (Delayed onset muscle soreness)

oli

hi there,

Recently I joined a local gym/health club, I went along on monday night after work for a workout around the gym (all cardio), tuesday i went along for my induction but i could only get the cardio workouts done because i had to get to the pharmacy to pick up my nicotine patches before they shut, wednesday i had the rest of my induction which was all weights which was a killer. I got the normal aches you get after exercising and decided that night that i would take thursday off and go on friday. When thursday came i was in quite a bit of discomfort and pain which i thought would pass within a day but today i was aching more, i felt like an OAP (no offence to OAPS), walking down stairs seemed such a difficult task, lifting my arms and getting up still feels like a huge mountain to climb. just wondering if anyone knows some treatments/remedies to ease the pain and speed up the healing process?

any help would be greatly appreciated

thanks

oli

CJC

I've had a similar experience where I could barely walk for a couple of days -a combination of overdoing things (a spinning class in my case) and not properly stretching to warm down. It sounds a bit odd to me that you should be doing a 'killer' weights session at induction in any case.

All I can suggest to help is taking some ibuprofen and telling the people at the gym about it before your next session so you can tailor your programme to avoid this in the future.

oli

the weights were not set too high, i think that because it has been a while since i have used weights and done some proper exercise it's probably taking its toll. thanks for the advice, can't seem to find any in the house at the minute so i will go get some ibuprofen 1st thing.

CJC do you think that light exercises such as swimming would be alriight during this period?

PGM

It'll soon go, maybe some cold baths and light exercise. Oh and painkillers.

CJC

I'm no expert and there are other gym bunnies around here who might be better able to advise than me, but I would think swimming would be fine. Sounds to me that it's just your body is wondering what hit it so some light low-impact exercise might be just the thing. (Disclaimer: The management takes no responsibility for any injury, inconvenience or death that may result from this advice :001_smile:)

I'm just getting back into to the gym thing after quite a while. I've a dodgy shoulder which may or may not have been to my previous over enthusiasm - the doctors haven't been able to find out what's up - and that's prevented me from doing much but it seems to be on the mend so I'm tentatively starting to work out again. Still finding swimming difficult though.

Any painkiller would probably help but I find that ibuprofen is best as it deals with inflammation, the codeine I have from the docs for my shoulder is great for pain but leaves me feeling even dopier than usual.

jow774

Im not sure if cold baths work as have never tried it, but I would say do some stretching like pilates or yoga (or just your normal footballer type stuff) and then a warm bath. Its probably lactic acid built up in your muscles because you overdid it. As been said before do loads of stretching before and after next time, warm bath after and try to breathe properly (using all your lungs) whilst exercising it will help no end.

PGM

Swimming would be fine, its active recovery ie light exercise that helps the recovery process. But still, you also needs lots of rest, as the pain is telling you you've strained your muscles and the body is busy rebuilding them.

I've not done the cold bath thing, but often athletes with have ice baths to help recover :crying:

sandytian

hi, I use to work in a Chinese medicine shop so I have seen a lot of people had this problem, my suggestion is hot bath and massage.
After a sudden movement you mucle will secrete some acid, if you relax you mucles immediately after exercise the acid would reduce and you would have less pain

Andypandy

My eldest is a cage fighter & plays ice-hockey, with lots of gym sessoins in-between. He swears by the 'jiggle machine' at the end of a workout for about ten minutes, then a hot bath when he gets home. It's weird but my two always feel like they haven't exercised properly if they're not in ANY pain the next day - I think it's linked to the addiction of training in some way. Tiger balm's good if you're in alot of pain in a particular area, & make sure your protein intakes are raised a little to speed tissue healing.

PGM

Some people have hot baths, some cold, some both! A lot of the professionals have ice baths, but evidence to what is best does not seem conclusive, or at least a common finding!

So forget all that and do what I'm doing now, limping to the fridge and getting a cold beer! :thumbup1:

A-Vic

make sure you properly stretch for as long as any warm up before any curcuit training then for ten mins after any weight lifting warm down i say the bikes good otherwise it will hurt

mark130273

warm down properly............it is that simple...

A-Vic

mark130273 wrote: »

warm down properly............it is that simple...

Yes

mark130273

dont know why everyone was going into a big discription on what to do and how to do when it was that simple.......dont just stop doing the exercise....warm down ?

A-Vic

mark130273 wrote: »

dont know why everyone was going into a big discription on what to do and how to do when it was that simple.......dont just stop doing the exercise....warm down ?

Its like you wouldnt just jump on the weights without warming up first would you? so why wouuld you just jump off the weights and expect not to be stiff or hurt yourself, by warming down you are suttly de streaching the muscle mass back to normal levels. Also drink plenty of isotonic fluids it replaces all the fluids missing (unless you big hunky men are going into muscle comps) then you need to be practically de-hydrated in increase the viens . So mark lay off the water

A-Vic

mark130273 wrote: »

dont know why everyone was going into a big discription on what to do and how to do when it was that simple.......dont just stop doing the exercise....warm down ?

o BTW Spambot

mark130273

i know.............thanks ...im glad to be back on here. after last week when i had the dreaded "man swine flu"

Buff

mark130273 wrote: »

dont know why everyone was going into a big discription on what to do and how to do when it was that simple.......dont just stop doing the exercise....warm down ?

Not correct in all cases - especially this one.

If you're in that much pain then warming down wouldn't have made one iota of difference. You may be stiff now and in pain when you move about, but if u keep movig around then the pain will ease. Go for a jog, loosen yourself up. It will make you feel more relaxed for a while, but then it'll hurt the next morning the same. It's just your body's way of saying "Hey, what the bloody hell was that resistance all about". It'll get used to it.
I certainly would NOT continue ANY resistance training until the pain has subsided, regardless of how much warm-up / warm-down time you perform.

Get well soon.

A-Vic

Buff wrote: »

Not correct in all cases - especially this one.

If you're in that much pain then warming down wouldn't have made one iota of difference. You may be stiff now and in pain when you move about, but if u keep movig around then the pain will ease. Go for a jog, loosen yourself up. It will make you feel more relaxed for a while, but then it'll hurt the next morning the same. It's just your body's way of saying "Hey, what the bloody hell was that resistance all about". It'll get used to it.
I certainly would NOT continue ANY resistance training until the pain has subsided, regardless of how much warm-up / warm-down time you perform.

Get well soon.

try this link

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art3195.asp

mark130273

A-Vic wrote: »

try this link

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art3195.asp

bella online ????pleasssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssse !

oli

thanks to everyone for their concerns and advice, the pains eased off over the weekend and had gone on monday, went to the gym monday night and went in the jacuzzi to relax and unwind, then tonight after work i went for a relaxing swim. weirdly today i have not been feeling many aches and pains or do they get always get delayed, i couldnt bear more DOMS :ohmy:

mark130273

I remember a few years ago , i ended up playing 5 a side for 2 hours on a saturday then again on the sunday and then again for a hour on the monday and when my alarm rang on the tuesday I couldnt even move to turn it off.......I rememeber thinking to myself that I will never ever do that again ....