UNDERSTANDING THE COMPLEXITIES OF MUSCLE SORENESS

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UNDERSTANDING THE COMPLEXITIES OF MUSCLE SORENESS





 Intense workouts, such as resistance training, stress your muscles and tendons and can cause soreness. This soreness is more likely to occur if you are beginning a new exercise or resistance training program or have had a long layoff. It also occurs among runners, walkers, and cyclists.

You probably have experienced muscle soreness after doing hard physical labor, such as moving furniture or gardening, which is feedback that your muscles have worked hard and damage has occurred.

Microtrauma inflicted by intense workouts or physical labor causes intracellular calcium loss and inflammation. These two processes are toxic to muscle tissue and occur slowly, which explains why muscle soreness first appears 1 to 2 days after the activity.

Not all workouts create muscle soreness, but when the exercise is sufficiently intense, there is a good chance that soreness will occur. Severe muscle soreness will commonly last for more than a week. The soreness takes so long to subside because of the biphasic nature of recovery. Early recovery is masked by delayed damage. This biphasic nature means that soreness can vary as much as recovery does.


Muscle soreness is a generic term that covers several diverse realities. It can occur, and each type affects an anabolic reaction differently. Certain types of muscle soreness prove productive for muscle gain, while others are less so.


As a general rule, the more the pain is centered in the heart of a muscle, the more the muscle will grow. However, the more pain occurs when the tendon joins the muscle, the less likely the muscle will grow. Further, the absence of muscle soreness does not mean growth signals were not released.


A new exercise will stretch the muscle-tendon junction in a novel way. This stretching damages the muscle fibers and causes muscle soreness. Introducing a new exercise or one you have not done for some time may cause muscle soreness. The soreness can appear quickly, sometimes almost immediately. It also tends to be situated where the muscle and tendon meet. If you repeat the exercise during the next workout, it will not cause much more soreness.


You will rarely experience muscle soreness in muscles you cannot stretch well, such as the side of the shoulder. These examples demonstrate that even though stretching causes muscle soreness, it is not very productive in helping to gain muscle mass.


When a person who trains exclusively on machines or pulleys switches to free weights, the person will immediately realize that free weights are much more traumatic for the muscles. The resistance provided by free weights is less linear and gradual than that of machines or cables. The disparate resistance of free weights generates intense muscle soreness during the transition away from machines. Even though it is temporary, muscle soreness is generally productive regarding muscle gain.


If a partner pushes on your weight during the negative phase or if you add bands to your bar, you are almost guaranteed to have muscle soreness in the days to come. The soreness tends to happen at the muscle-tendon junction, but it can also occur in the center of the muscle. The soreness will take some time to fade.


When a muscle contracts, it can become deformed. The more pronounced the deformity, the stronger the anabolic response will be. This is called mechanotransduction, or transforming a mechanical signal into a chemical signal. One example of mechanotransduction is the bladder. As the bladder fills up, its sides stretch more and more. Through the intermediary of the nervous system, the person perceives the need to urinate. The work is productive when you generate a contraction that is intense enough to cause muscle soreness. The resulting muscle soreness is generally centered in the muscle. This soreness will disappear faster than the muscle soreness caused by accentuated negatives.

When you feel your muscles burn, this means that you are producing lactic acid. If a large amount of lactic acid is present, it aggravates the muscle fibers. Lactic acid causes chemical trauma and, therefore, muscle soreness. However, the lactic acid disappears long before you feel muscle soreness. Contrary to popular belief, a muscle is not sore because it is saturated in lactic acid. The two phenomena are separated in time.

Muscle soreness caused by the burn appears quickly and disappears faster than soreness caused by negatives or heavy work. The muscle soreness is generally localized in the center of the muscle. These two positive parameters explain why striving for the burn is a widespread technique in strength training. Giant sets (doing several exercises for the same muscle in a row with no rest)and drop sets are good ways to optimize the burn.

Ultimately, muscle soreness is feedback that indicates how your muscles are adapting to your conditioning program. However, some instances may indicate severe damage to your muscles, tendons, and ligaments. 

If the sore area of your body is also warm to touch, discolored and swollen, can not be moved without severe pain, shows no improvement over 24-48 hours, or worsens, it is time to see a doctor. 

If you are a novice in resistance training and exercise, it is helpful to seek instruction on proper techniques or enlist the help of a trainer. To prevent serious injuries, the adage ' start low and go slow' is good to remember.


Remember, your health is your treasure!


Carson Whitaker, LPN, CHC, CSC

ProTime-Fitness.org



 


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