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Stretching FAQ 4.12.1 - Common Causes Of Muscular SorenessStretching FAQ 4.12.1 - Common Causes Of Muscular Soreness
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Subject: 4.12.1 - Common Causes of Muscular Soreness
If you are experiencing soreness, stiffness, or some other form of muscular pain, then it may be due to one or more of the following:
torn tissue
Overstretching and engaging in athletic activities without a proper
warm-up can cause microscopic tearing of muscle fibers or connective
tissues. If the tear is not too severe, the pain will usually not
appear until one or two days after the activity that caused the
damage. If the pain occurs during or immediately after the activity,
then it may indicate a more serious tear (which may require medical
attention). If the pain is not too severe, then light, careful static
stretching of the injured area is supposedly okay to perform (See "3.5
- Static Stretching"). It is hypothesized that torn fibers heal at a
shortened length, thus decreasing flexibility in the injured muscles.
Very light stretching of the injured muscles helps reduce loss of
flexibility resulting from the injury. Intense stretching of any kind,
however, may only make matters worse.
metabolic accumulation
Overexertion and/or intense muscular activity will fatigue the muscles
and cause them to accumulate lactic acid and other waste products. If
this is the cause of your pain, then static stretching (See "3.5 -
Static Stretching"), isometric stretching (See "3.6 - Isometric
Stretching"), or a good warm-up (See "4.1 - Warming Up") or cool-down
(See "4.2 - Cooling Down") will help alleviate some of the soreness.
(See "2.3.1 - Why Bodybuilders Should Stretch"). Massaging the sore
muscles may also help relieve the pain (See "4.3 - Massage"). It has
also been claimed that supplements of vitamin C will help alleviate
this type of pain, but controlled tests using placebos have been
unable to lend credibility to this hypothesis. The ingestion of sodium
bicarbonate (baking soda) before athletic activity has been shown to
help increase the body's buffering capacity and reduce the output of
lactic acid. However, it can also cause urgent diarrhea.
muscle spasms
Exercising above a certain threshold can cause a decreased flow of
blood to the active muscles. This can cause pain resulting in a
protective reflex which contracts the muscle isotonically (See "1.5 -
Types of Muscle Contractions"). The reflex contraction causes further
decreases in blood flow, which causes more reflex contractions, and so
on, causing the muscle to spasm by repeatedly contracting. One common
example of this is a painful muscle cramp. Immediate static stretching
of the cramped muscle can be helpful in relieving this type of pain.
However, it can sometimes make things worse by activating the stretch
reflex (See "1.6.2 - The Stretch Reflex"), which may cause further
muscle contractions. Massaging the cramped muscle (and trying to relax
it) may prove more useful than stretching in relieving this type of
pain (See "4.3 - Massage").
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