Muscle Soreness - PART 2: How do we ease soreness?
If you searched “What eases muscle soreness” on Google right now you’d get bombarded with supplements and speciality “recovery tools”.
(Seriously, I already did this to check and the first thing listed is 1st Phorm supplements & Theraguns)
So it makes sense that so many people spend their time & money on those types of things; we’ve been told over and over again by mainstream fitness that it’s what helps muscle soreness & recovery.
..But, does it really?
The truth is there is no special, quick or easy fix for muscle soreness.
We have a pretty good idea of what causes delayed onset muscle soreness or DOMS (if you need a refresher, checkout my recent blog post here).
As weight lifters, we are all going to experience muscle soreness from time to time. Typically at the start of a new training block/program, after testing for a 1-10 rep max, after an especially hard session or after coming back to lifting after taking time off.
Soreness is a reality of resistance training.
And because of that many people have researched how to best prevent & treat DOMS.
Today we know the best prevention methods are to manage training volume, recover well & support our activity levels with adequate calorie & protein intake.
But what helps ease soreness when it does set in?
Generally speaking, the things that help prevent DOMS are also the things that can help us when we do get sore.
Getting quality sleep & enough of it
Eating enough calories & protein specifically
Staying hydrated
Managing training volume
Incorporating gentle/daily activity
Supplements like a complete protein source (like whey or casein) can help us consume enough protein to aid in protein synthesis & muscle recovery.
On the flip side, BCAA supplements (branched-chain-amino-acid) have been shown time and time again to not be helpful in the recovery process if adequate protein levels are reached.
Besides supplements, there are tons of specialty tools & activities the interwebs suggests helps with soreness.
Things like foam rolling, Theraguns, massages, Epsom salt baths, stretching & ice baths.
For years foam rolling was touted as a great recovery tool. People would spend hours rolling around on sore spots to “break apart knots” & help muscles recover.
Today we know that is absolutely not the case. The amount of pressure needed to “break apart” a muscle knot is significantly more than foam rolling (even with a lacrosse ball) could ever produce.
Theraguns & massages are also touted as great recovery tools that can help reduce soreness. Just like foam rolling can’t produce enough pressure to physically improve or get rid of muscle knots, the same goes for these two methods.
However, foam rolling, Theraguns, & massages can produce a temporary relief to muscle soreness. This is documented in numerous studies where individuals report perceived muscular fatigue before & after using one of these techniques.
So while I wouldn’t suggest foam rolling, Theragunning or massages for long-term benefits of improving muscle soreness, they can all be helpful in offering some temporary relief (we’re talking like hours here). Keep that in mind when deciding to purchase any of these for the sake of muscle recovery.
Suggestions like Epsom salt baths, stretching and ice baths make their rounds in this conversation, too.
Epsom salt baths, to my knowledge, have absolutely no documented signficinat & beneficial affects on muscle soreness. Maybe mentally you enjoy relaxing in a warm bath & the Epsom salt makes your skin feel nice, that’s great. But physically there’s not much to show support for these baths improving soreness.
Stretching, similarly to the massage-type recovery tools, can produce mild & temporary benefits. Most of which are mental vs. actually physically helping the muscle recover.
Ice baths can help numb up a sore area and may give the illusion of helping recovery but this effect is produced due to reducing the muscle’s inflammation. Inflammation is an integral part to the body’s healing process so doing this may feel good at the time but ultimately is not leaving you any better off than before.
So what’s the best thing you can do when you get sore?
Eat well & enough. Sleep well & enough. Keep moving as you’re able. Stay hydrated.
Assess training volume, incorporate deload weeks & be sure you’re taking at least one full rest day each week.
To put it simply, the best way to reduce soreness is to be proactive in doing so.
Have questions about DOMS or how to handle muscle soreness? Drop them below!
Hey, I’m Kirsi!
Certified Personal Trainer & online fitness coach
I help women explore their strength & challenge themselves with simple programming & comprehensive coaching.
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