Why do I still feel sore after 2 days?
Understanding the Physiology of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS)
Have you ever had a really extreme workout, felt fine but a day or two later you felt like you couldn’t even move? That delayed soreness is not bad luck, it's more so normal and how our bodies adapt to new exercise stress, which is a process called Delayed-Onset Muscle soreness (DOMS).
DOMS develops when a specific muscle group performs unaccustomed or strenuous activity, especially movements that the body isn’t used to (Robinson & Wakefield 2010). This can happen to literally anyone whether it’s professional athletes or people who just like to go to the gym. That soreness begins within 12-24 hours and usually peaks on day two, which is why you still feel that soreness and usually even feel worse on day two.
DOMS results from a disruption of muscle fibrils, at the myotendinous junction which is where muscle fibers attach to tendons (Robinson & Wakefield 2010). That region has a lot of pain receptors, and it results from ultrastructural damage to muscle fibers when pushed beyond their usual load (Schroeter et al., 2024). The damage that’s done is usually harmless because it heals within a few days, but during this phase the muscles will suffer from stiffness, decline in performance and an increased injury risk. It is classified as a Type 1b muscle injury, a delayed onset muscle pain which is distinct from the severe muscle strains (Schroeter et al., 2024).
There are many approaches to manage DOMS, including starting with lighter and lower loads and increasing slowly to prevent micro damage or heat therapy could alleviate the muscle tension by increasing blood flow (Schroeter et al., 2024). When you feel sore and stiff two days post workout, it is a normal response.
UPDATE Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) – Muscle Biomechanics, Pathophysiology and Therapeutic Approaches. (2024). Germanjournalsportsmedicine.com. https://www.germanjournalsportsmedicine.com/archive/archive-2024/issue-5/update-delayed-onset-muscle-soreness-doms-muscle-biomechanics-pathophysiology-and-therapeutic-approaches/
Hi Valla! I completely relate to this post and feeling extremely sore a day or so after a new or intense workout. I was always curious about this phenomenon because I figured you would be the most sore right after a workout. But after reading your blog post on Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), its nice to know the physiological reason as to why this happens and that it can also happen to anyone regardless if you are a conditioned athlete or someone new going to the gym, because when I do experience DOMS it makes me feel really out of shape. I wonder if there are also ways to prevent DOMS through our diet, like maybe consuming protein more before and after a workout and staying hydrated? Even though I have not participated in an intense workouts recently, I was curious about the role diet plays in mitigating this soreness in case I become a pilates mom in the future. I ended up finding a source on PubMed talking about how consuming certain nutrients like caffeine, omega 3 fatty acids, taurine, and polyphenols before an after exercise has proven to be effective at reducing DOMS. I sited the paper below for more information on how these nutritional interventions work and correlative data.
ReplyDeleteKim, J., & Lee, J. (2014). A review of nutritional intervention on delayed onset muscle soreness. Part I. Journal of exercise rehabilitation, 10(6), 349–356. https://doi.org/10.12965/jer.140179
Omg this post is so relatable right now, I did two workouts last week and I am still feeling sore. Really interesting post and I will keep it in mind during my next workouts.
ReplyDeleteHey Valla, this was a very interesting post. Have ever experienced DOMS considering you only record content at the gym. Just kidding, but here’s a question for you. Does DOMS affect slow twitch or fast twitch muscle fibers differently?
ReplyDeleteHaha good one ! That’s actually a really good question, DOMS affects fast twitch (Type II) muscle fibers more than slow twitch fibers since the fast twitch is happening during intense high force workouts causing more micro damage to the tissue. Slow twitch are more fatigue resistant and used in endurance, recovers faster with less soreness.
DeleteThis was a really good post and I totally related to every part of it and it definitely helped me understand why im always fine after my workout and sore the next two days.
ReplyDeleteHow interesting Valla! As you suggested in the paper, it's a better idea to start with lighter and lower loads, however I was curious, is this within a single workout or during the overall workout journey spanning months? I would presume within a single workout this would be beneficial because it allows your muscles to "warm up" and slowing increase load over the workout and hopefully translate that to increasing weight over several months with targeting different muscles on "off days" for other muscle groups.
ReplyDeleteCheung, K., Hume, P. A., & Maxwell, L. (2003). Delayed onset muscle soreness. Sports medicine, 33(2), 145-164.
Great question and your intuition is pretty spot on. Starting with lighter loads is helpful within a single workout and across your training journey. Lighter sets act as a warm up which help your muscles prepare for the heavier load, that is actually called progressive overload.
DeletePlotkin, D., Coleman, M., Van Every, D., Maldonado, J., Oberlin, D., Israetel, M., Feather, J., Alto, A., Vigotsky, A. D., & Schoenfeld, B. J. (2022, September 30). Progressive overload without progressing load? the effects of load or repetition progression on muscular adaptations. PeerJ. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9528903/