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The Doctors Book of Home Remedies II: Muscle Soreness

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Muscle Soreness

True fact: The guy who first used the phrase "No pain, no gain" was not talking about oral surgery, auto repair bills, bosses, barking dogs, traffic jams or those hidden objects you smash your bare feet on when you're walking to the bathroom in the dark. He was talking about the kind of pain you get when demanding exercise such as weight lifting, running and gymnastics creates tiny tears in your muscle. It's called muscle soreness. And even though this soreness lies in muscle matter, you can ease it--and still make training gains--if you just use your head before, during and after your workouts.

Be hot and cold. A hot-and-cold shower remedy for muscle soreness takes some courage--but Patrice Morency, a sports injury management specialist in Portland, Oregon, who works with Olympic hopefuls, swears by it. Take a hot shower for two minutes. Then turn on the cold and let it run full throttle for 30 seconds. Repeat the process five to ten times. As you switch from hot water to cold, your blood vessels actually open and close, flushing lactic acid--which causes muscle soreness--out of the muscles, says Morency.

Massage away the pain. At the University of Colorado in Boulder, the Buffaloes football team has its own secret weapon for combating muscle soreness: massage. Following games and after the Buffaloes' toughest workouts, key players are given body massages to help move along waste products that are caused by exercise, such as lactic acid. Massage helps push the acid out of the muscle. "That helps recovery time a lot," says Steve Willard, a trainer for the team.

Have a tablet. Over-the-counter anti-inflammatories such as Nuprin, Advil, Tylenol and Anacin-3--medications containing ibuprofen or acetaminophencan help calm inflammation and soreness, says Jennifer Stone, head athletic trainer at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The only caveat: "You've got to know whether you're dealing with just soreness or something more serious before you start taking them," says Stone.

Head for a hot tub. When muscles are tight and stiff the day after a workout, nothing beats a hot bath, according to Stone. "You don't want to take a bath right after you train, but I'd recommend it several hours afterward," she says. The reason: Heat increases circulation, promoting inflammation. But if you wait a while before taking your bath, you'll get a more soothing effect and less inflammatory action.

Take the ice plunge. After a tough workout, use this well-tested method from the University of Miami football team in Coral Gables, Florida. Fill a plastic garbage can with ice and water to create a cold bath that's a nippy 55°F (test it with a thermometer to make sure). Then step inside for instant relief, suggests Andy Clary, head trainer for the team.

Although Clary calls it "the best thing we've done for muscle soreness," he recommends that you go slowly the first time you test these icy waters. First fill the can just calf-high and step in. If you don't have problems with that, fill the can higher and sit so that the water comes up to your waist--but for no more than five minutes. "It's a pretty quick in and out that shocks the system and helps with any inflammation and soreness," he says.

Warm up before working out. Want to avoid muscle soreness? A warm-up not only helps you avoid unnecessary injury, it also helps get you ready for one of the best next-day soreness busters: stretching. "Our philosophy is that you need to warm up before you do anything else," says Clary. "Get some circulation to your peripheral muscles and increase that circulation to warm up the muscles and tendons. Once you increase circulation and the muscles are warm, then you can stretch them properly."

Stretch right for your sport. When you're getting ready to play hard and tough, don't settle for just a few hastily performed side bends or trunk twists. Instead, make your stretches sport-specific, says sports injuries specialist Craig Hersh, M.D., of the Sports Medicine Center in Fort Lee, New Jersey. "If you're a runner, you want to concentrate on the legs and back. If you're a pitcher, you want to concentrate on the shoulders, neck and upper back."

For other sports, think about which muscles you use most, and get them limber and warm first. The best way to stretch is with no bouncing. "Bring the stretch out to its extreme and hold it for 15 to 20 seconds," says Dr. Hersh.

Do some postgame stretching, too. "Stretching is even more important after the activity, because it helps prevent soreness the next day," says Clary. Stretching after exercise is also easier: Your muscles are more elastic after they've been warmed up.

Follow the 10 percent rule. Training with abandon seems macho--until your muscles refuse to help you out of bed in the morning. Instead of suffering, try this simple rule: Never increase the difficulty of your activity more than 10 percent from week to week.

If you're a runner who's logging 3 miles every day, continue to do that for a week, then try 3.3 miles daily during the next week. Or if you're running 20 minutes a day, you can up the time to 22 minutes the following week. This 10 percent rule ensures that you increase the level of difficulty in manageable increments.

Wear down pain. Elastic nylon shorts actually help prevent muscle soreness by providing support, says Clary. They also gently massage sore muscles, he adds.

Swap your sports. Instead of sticking strictly with your favorite sport, you can keep from surprising your muscles by cross-training, suggests Clary. If you're a tennis player, that means taking frequent bike rides. Into running? Try racquetball.

Have a carbo drink. One of the University of Miami football team's best-kept secrets for fighting muscle soreness is probably carried by your nearest supermarket: electrolyte/carbohydrate replacement drinks like Gatorade. It all started one season when each player was asked to down a glass of sports drink after practice, after each game and at dinner. (Sports drinks are high in carbohydrates, which the body quickly turns into glycogen to be used as fuel for the muscles.) By the end of the season, Clary noticed something startling: Far fewer players complained of muscle soreness than the year before. "I'm not kidding--we are believers in fluid replacement," he says.

Start half as fast. In your haste to get back into your training groove--or simply start--be careful not to go too fast. "If someone is just starting or coming back from an injury, I tell him to figure out what he thinks he can do and then cut that in half," says Stone. "People grossly overestimate their capacities. You're better off making a mistake by going a little too slow than going too fast. If you go too fast and get too sore, you'll be tempted to skip exercising the next day."

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