How to get rid of sore muscles, and why your muscles get sore – Insider – INSIDER

Sore muscles can occur any time you exercise in a new way that your body isn't used to, or when you increase the intensity of your usual workouts.

Here's what you need to know about why your muscles feel sore and how to relieve soreness.

There are two types of muscle soreness: acute and delayed onset.

Acute muscle soreness happens during the activity say if the exercise is too intense or you're using bad form and is an indication you should stop immediately because it could lead to muscle or joint damage, according to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).

Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), on the other hand, sets in about 12 to 24 hours after exercise. It's why you feel so sore the morning after a workout. These sore muscles usually last one to three days, though it can take up to 10 days for soreness to resolve completely. And while DOMS may hurt, it can be helpful for muscle repair.

As you're working out, your muscle fibers may tear slightly. Those tiny muscle tears lead to hypertrophy, which means the muscle cells get bigger, says Julia Iafrate, DO, an assistant professor of rehabilitation and regenerative medicine at Columbia University Medical Center. Once you let the muscle fibers recover, the muscle ends up stronger than it was before.

Just make sure you don't work out those muscles before they're done healing trying to perform intense exercise on sore muscles can result in further pain or even injury.

While there's no way to speed up the body's muscle repair process, you can treat or reduce the symptoms of soreness in a few ways:

You may also be tempted to pop an anti-inflammatory medication like Advil or Aleve until the soreness subsides, but Iafrate warns this could delay muscle repair.

"If the inflammation is too much to bear, then sure, take an Aleve, but it's not something you want to do continuously," she says. "You actually need that inflammation in order to heal."

Run-of-the-mill soreness doesn't warrant a doctor's visit. "But there's a fine line of what's too much soreness," Iafrate says.

Soreness can feel achy, while a muscle strain, which is more serious, may be accompanied by swelling, bruising, and pain, according to Harvard Health.

Iafrate says if your soreness lasts longer than a week, it could indicate something concerning. As long as you have a safe workout regimen, the risk is low for these conditions, but they may occur:

You'll also want to take debilitating pain, swollen limbs, or darker-than-normal urine as a sign to seek medical attention, according to the ACSM. Iafrate suggests seeing a primary care physician or a sports medicine specialist if you're concerned about muscle pain.

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