Delayed onset muscle soreness, a term that’s very common and commonly shortened to “DOMS” basically means muscle soreness and aches that happens hours after a workout, exercise or activity.

Common aches

It’s really common, especially for

• gym rats (like myself haha)
• runners / people who workout
• people who suddenly pushed or increased the duration / intensity / frequency of their training
• people who just started exercising or a fitness program or a sport

The theory behind DOMS

Scientists are pointing towards micro-tears within muscle fibers that attribute or cause delayed onset muscle soreness, and that this is actually a good thing, because micro-tears when they recover, they lead to stronger muscle fibers.

Swelling from DOMS can build up for hours and days after the workout or activities, and this may be why muscle soreness is felt the most in the first few hours and days after the workout.

Usually, the harder/more intense the workout, the more intense the DOMS.

How to recover from delayed onset muscle soreness

Most of the time, general DOMS should recover normally within 5-7 days without additional special treatments, but there’s some stuff you can consider doing regularly to accelerate DOMS recovery as well as muscle performance:

• regular deep tissue and sports massage (before AND after the activities would be useful too)
• hydrate with electrolyte supplements
• warm bath tub soaks with epsom salts
• ice bath
• regular rest and walks

If your delayed onset muscle soreness lasts more than 7 days, we recommend that you see a doctor or a physiotherapist.

Where To Next?

• Go to Home / Start
• Learn and find out more about your pains (bones, muscles, joints, tendons, ligaments, nerves etc) at Pain Conditions & Injuries
• Visit our shop to see products we recommend for pain relief, heating, treatments and more
• Contact us