5 Questions about Your Body and Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness

soreness

If you’re living a healthy, active lifestyle, you may have experienced soreness after a workout or sporting session. In fact, you may even have noticed that your muscle soreness lasted for a couple of days, getting worse as time went on. Whether you’re a seasoned athlete or simply a novice who’s getting started, these aches probably concerned you or at the very least, stopped you from fulfilling your normal routine.

At the same time, you probably wanted to know how to prevent this issue in the future, as well as the process involved in having it occur in the first place. This soreness, otherwise known as delayed-onset muscle soreness or DOMS, can be a real hindrance. But as experts in massage therapy, the staff at Dreamclinic is your source for understanding and preventing this issue.

What is DOMS?

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, or DOMS, is a type of soreness that builds up over the course of about 48 hours. During that time, it often gets progressively worse and is thought to be caused by the movement of your muscle as it is being stretched during activity. Once upon a time, researchers thought lactic acid was the culprit, but not any longer. In fact, DOMS is caused by an inflammation process that starts within a few hours of your workout.

Who does DOMS affect?

You might think that DOMS only impacts professional weightlifters or regular runners. But the truth is that Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness can affect anyone, of any age. In fact, if you’re a less seasoned athlete or you haven’t been active in a while, you may have a greater chance of experiencing DOMS than a more experienced or active person.

Should you work through it?

There’s still some debate about whether working through DOMS is advised or not. In reality, jumping right back into your regular workout might not be the wisest course of action. However, you don’t need to worry. In most cases, you can return to your routine after a rest and light activity. In fact, the best course of action you can take is to do light stretching, a massage, and minor exercises that encourage blood flow. You can also use foam rolling as well, which will provide additional relief. However, you should probably avoid heavy lifting or other strenuous aspects of your active routine.

How do you prevent it?

One of the biggest recommendations we can give regarding DOMS and prevention is to warm up before your workouts or activities. You can use your foam roller or general stretching. Although the health community is talking a great deal about BCAAs, or branched-chain amino acids, timing their intact correctly can be a bit of a pain and often requires a supplement. For most people, stretching and a regular massage can work wonders in and of itself.

Do you live an active lifestyle and experience DOMS? The staff at Dreamclinic is happy to schedule a massage for you and help you on your road to recovery!

Reduce Anxiety with Massage

It’s no secret that our daily lives can dictate our mood. Just as getting a promotion or planning a vacation can put a smile on our faces for days on end, things like workplace deadlines, family troubles, and financial worries can have a negative effect on our psychological well-being.

By now, most of us have come to know just how connected the mind and body truly are. So it should come as no surprise that sustaining a poor mood can lead to much more than a grumpy expression. Gloomy or defeatist emotions can manifest themselves in a myriad of ways, including weight gain, skin conditions, and even serious illnesses.

For those of you who love to treat themselves to a massage, we’ve got good news for you. Not only does your massage ease tense muscles and boost relaxation, but you can reduce anxiety with massage, lifting your mood in a way that permeates your body.

First and foremost, there’s human touch. Countless studies have examined the benefits of touch, both as it relates to our development as children and how it affects our sense of the world as adults. Simple touch on a regular basis has been shown to lower blood pressure and increase the “feel-good” hormone, oxytocin — both of which lead to a more optimistic attitude.

Massage itself is like doubling down on this human touch. “Many studies show that massage therapy reduces negative mood states like depression, anxiety, and anger,” says Dr. Tiffany Field of the Touch Research Institute. “Massage therapy can improve a person’s emotional health by reducing stress and stress hormones; by increasing serotonin and thereby depression and pain; and by enhancing immune function and thereby reducing bacterial and viral illnesses.” In fact, a review of more than a dozen studies conducted by the Institute found that harmful levels of cortisol were reduced by up to 53 percent following a massage.

Another benefit people might not think about is the increase in self-awareness. Because of the speed at which many of us live our lives, we rarely stop to examine how our bodies are responding to everyday stress. “Massage treatments give us a time-out in order for us to access the deeper layers of our well-being,” says massage therapist Kristen Sykora. “Just as we take our cars in for regular tune-ups, we too need maintenance.”

While massages are certainly enjoyable, they shouldn’t be viewed as an indulgence. Instead, they should be seen as yet another tool we can use to keep ourselves in the best physical and mental health possible.