Muscle Pain
If you constantly pound your muscles, they'll never have time to repair - Taylor Lautner
image by: Muscle & Fitness
HWN Recommends
What actually works for muscle recovery—and what doesn’t
The most painful part of a workout often comes after the exercise itself. The day after a hard run or an intense lifting session, almost everyone feels the pain associated with sore muscles. Researchers call this phenomenon DOMS, or delayed onset muscle soreness, and it’s the reason many of us turn to various techniques we’ve been told relieve the pain and speed up the recovery process.
Tactics from foam rollers to compression tights to ice baths have become popular among all athletes, whether they be weekend warriors or elite competitors. But none of them are the miracle products we often think they are.
The reason we get soreness in the first place has to do with what’s happening…
Resources
New Home Workouts Come With New Aches and Pains
As people take on push-up challenges and attempt to follow workout classes from their living rooms, aches and even injuries can arise, whether they are old hands at workouts or new to classes.
Cold take: Ice baths don’t help sore muscles heal
Skip the polar plunge and get some sleep instead.
Can Foam Rollers Help Relieve Muscle Pain?
Recent research suggests the rolling may have a neurological effect, changing how the body perceives pain, or rolling may simply warm and soften the fascia and muscles.
Tired Of Muscle Pain? PowerDot Puts Relief At Your Fingertips
Launched in 2016, PowerDot is the world’s first app-based, smart, electric muscle stimulation (EMS) device. The wearable tech uses electrical impulses to cause a contraction in targeted muscles. When the impulse is applied to a motor nerve, it causes a deeper and more complete muscle contraction than what can be achieved through alternative training or other activity, such as stretching.
What's Inside Tiger Balm? Hint: Not Actual Tigers
FIERY. FIERCE. SINUS-CLEARING. Anyone who’s stood within wafting distance of a marathon knows the smell: Tiger Balm. The classic pain-relieving ointment can be traced to a Chinese herbalist who began selling it in the 1870s; subsequently commercialized by his sons.
Being Sore After a Workout Doesn't Mean Your Muscles Are Growing
There’s very little evidence to show that being sore indicates muscle damage or faster muscle growth, or that a lack of soreness means that your workout wasn’t effective.
Michael Phelps uses cupping to ease his muscle pain. What does science say?
But as with a lot of alternative therapies, the science on these medicinal hickeys is pretty inconclusive, suggesting you may not need to sprint off to a cupping practitioner to try it out on your sore muscles.
Should You Treat Muscle Pain With Ice or Heat?
Cold therapy, or cryotherapy, is usually recommended in the immediate aftermath of an acute injury, like a severe bruise or sprain, not mere soreness.
What Actually Causes Muscle Soreness When We Exercise?
You've kick-started your morning with some stair drills or a pump class to get you moving. Half way through through those squats, you begin to feel the burn. And by the time the next morning comes around, you're probably wincing at the fact that you may never walk (or squat) again. Sound familiar?
What Is Causing This Woman’s Severe Muscle Pain?
Angel had suffered these episodes of muscle pain her whole life. When she was a child, everyone told her they were just growing pains.
Why your muscles hurt so much the day after you work out
Ever woken up the day after a workout and wondered what you did to deserve such pain? I’m talking about soreness. That pain can stem from several sources, and understanding what's behind yours will help you best remedy it—and find ways to potentially prevent it in the future.
What actually works for muscle recovery—and what doesn’t
Knowing which methods don’t help at all is just as important as knowing which ones work.
Five simple solutions for sore muscles
Help speed up the post-workout recovery process.
Introducing Stitches!
Your Path to Meaningful Connections in the World of Health and Medicine
Connect, Collaborate, and Engage!
Coming Soon - Stitches, the innovative chat app from the creators of HWN. Join meaningful conversations on health and medical topics. Share text, images, and videos seamlessly. Connect directly within HWN's topic pages and articles.
