Muscle pain after playing sports. Normal or alarm signal

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Physical activity is beneficial for the body - this is a proven fact that does not raise doubts. Regular exercise improves well-being, quality of life, speeds up metabolism, helps maintain flexibility and mobility of the body, promotes the growth of muscle mass and increases endurance.

But all these positive aspects are slightly overshadowed by one unpleasant side effect from sports training: muscle pain of varying intensity. Pain syndrome most often occurs in beginners after the first exercises, but even if you are an experienced athlete, muscle pain probably accompanies you during periods of high-intensity loads or when performing weight-bearing exercises.

Many, having felt pain after sports activities, succumb to a common misconception and consider it a sign of a well-done workout and a manifestation of an increase in muscle mass: “it hurts, it means it’s growing.” In fact, severe muscle pain and the inability to move normally the next day, as a rule, are the result of ordinary non-compliance with the exercise technique. Let's take a closer look at what happens in the muscles during training and why pain occurs.

Causes of muscle pain after exercise

There are two types of muscle pain that appear at the initial stage of sports activities, which are considered natural and therefore safe.

One occurs right during training, at the moment when you perform the last, heaviest repetitions of the exercises. Why is this happening?

During training, ATP (adenosine triphosphoric acid), which is the most important source of energy, begins to decompose in muscle tissue and blood. Because of this, hydrogen ions accumulate in the blood and muscles, and the pH of the blood begins to shift towards oxidation. It is because of the “acidification” of the blood that a burning sensation occurs. It passes quite quickly: blood and increased air ventilation in the lungs help the body cope with the accumulated hydrogen ions. But all subsequent pain is associated with microdamage in muscle tissue.

The second is the so-called sore throat, or delayed muscle pain.

It occurs 6-8 hours after physical activity and reaches a maximum after about 2-3 days. As a rule, its appearance is a consequence of unusual or excessively intense physical activity. You have most likely experienced yourself more than once: not only at the very beginning of fitness classes, but also when mastering new sets of exercises or increasing their duration and intensity. This type of pain is caused by microscopic damage or even tears in muscle fibers.

A large number of muscle microdamages inhibit the growth of muscle tissue. This is because muscle growth requires amino acids, which are also needed to heal damaged muscles. Severe damage to muscle tissue “steals” amino acids for healing, thereby preventing muscle fibers from growing.

Traumatic causes of muscle pain

The exact opposite of natural pain is severe pain resulting from injury. This pain is aching in nature, intensifies even with minor exertion and becomes unbearable with sudden movement.

The pain syndrome appears immediately during training, sometimes the next day.

If you experience redness and swelling of the tissues, bruising, or general malaise, this clearly indicates a serious injury to the muscles and ligaments. In this case, do not delay going to the doctor!

The biggest cause of injuries in the gym is carelessness. To avoid unpleasant consequences, it is enough to follow a few simple rules. Not worth it:

• start straight away with heavy exercises, skipping the warm-up
• continue to exercise on exercise machines, experiencing any inconvenience
• take on excessive weight during strength training
• During training, ignore the appearance of crunching or clicking in the joints

And don’t forget to listen to your trainer’s advice: under the guidance of our trainers, you can not only get the desired effect, but also learn how to take care of your training safety.

Types of muscle pain

Previously, I only mentioned mild post-exercise pain, which is a direct consequence of the action of lactic acid. But there are other forms of post-workout pain syndrome:

• Delayed muscle pain is called sore throat. It most often occurs in beginners or athletes who have increased their load, 1-2 days after training. The fact is that the body does not immediately adapt to intense training. As a result of this, a certain muscle rupture occurs, or rather, individual fibers are damaged and cracks form in the myofibril. As a result, inflammation appears in the cells, and a lot of water accumulates there, which puts pressure on the nerve endings, which causes discomfort. This process does not change any functions of the body, does not have unpleasant consequences, so a person must simply endure the pain. Whether to train in this state or not is an individual question. I also advise you to focus on the degree of pain of the sensations and your desire.

• Pain caused by injury. Here we are dealing with acute pain - the body’s response to severe rupture of muscle fibers and the subsequent inflammatory process. This pain syndrome is often accompanied by descriptions of “strained ligament” or “pulled muscle.” Discomfort may appear during or after exercise. In such a situation, I recommend immediately stopping the activity and resting.

How to get rid of pain after exercise

We've looked at the causes of pain, now let's talk about how to get rid of it. Safe types of pain can be relieved directly during exercise by repeating the exercise that caused it, but with less load. These actions will remove muscle stiffness and ensure increased blood flow, carrying oxygen and nutrients necessary for regeneration to the tissues.

Discomfort in the muscles of the legs and lower body can be relieved with cardio exercises, and pain in the muscles of the upper body can be relieved by doing bodyweight exercises or doing yoga.

If we talk about relieving soreness, there are several effective methods that can quickly relieve pain.

Proper nutrition and sleep patterns

This is of paramount importance for the restoration of muscle tissue. After hard training, your muscles need proteins and carbohydrates: the former supply the amino acids needed for the rapid healing of micro-tears, and the latter provide the muscles with glycogen. Drinking at least 2 liters of water per day helps remove toxins from the body and prevents dehydration, which leads to muscle fatigue (however, do not overdo it: drinking too much causes the kidneys to work too hard). Don't forget about rest: stick to a routine, try not to go to bed too late and sleep at least 8 hours. Adequate, healthy sleep will help you regain your strength and prepare for new workouts.

Relaxing massage

Massage is a very effective method of getting rid of sore throat.
It relieves muscle tension, disperses lymph, increases muscle elasticity and relieves stiffness. The Body&Mind studio knows how to properly recover after sports: a new sports massage service will help you regain strength and well-being after a quality workout. Look for Massage'30 and Massage'60 in the schedule and sign up for a relaxing massage session.

Hot bath or sauna

The sauna at The Base is a great way to relieve muscle pain! During your stay in the sauna, blood vessels dilate, which increases the volume of blood in muscle tissue, promotes the removal of toxins and speeds up the recovery process.

Basic provisions

1. A massage given immediately after training is the best way to relieve soreness and muscle fatigue.
2. If massage is not possible, tight clothing and immersion in water will help.
3. The recovery methods outlined in the review do not replace the classic recommendations about the need for good sleep and high-calorie protein nutrition, they simply help you recover faster and train more efficiently.

Athletes involved in strength sports believe that recovering from training requires even more effort than training. In order for the muscles to be voluminous and strong, training must be long and intense, and a person who does not know how to recover after them simply cannot withstand such a regime and will not achieve the effect.

French researchers analyzed 99 studies and compared the effectiveness of 10 recovery techniques, assessing their effect on muscle pain, fatigue, markers of inflammation and muscle damage. Massage turned out to be the most effective remedy. But this is an expensive pleasure. Fortunately, there are more budget-friendly means - tight clothing and immersion in water whose temperature is lower than body temperature. These methods relieve pain and fatigue well. Recovery methods such as stretching and active recovery methods have a contradictory effect: they alleviate pain, but at the same time increase fatigue a day after training.

How to avoid muscle pain after exercise

The best thing, of course, is simply to prevent pain from occurring. The simplest and most effective way to avoid pain after exercise is to approach your workouts wisely. You shouldn’t overload your muscles at the very first lesson: experienced trainers at The Base club advise increasing the load little by little, constantly adjusting its duration and intensity. In addition, never waste time on warming up and cooling down.

Warm-up

This is a necessary element of any workout, reducing the risk of injury, warming up the muscles, reducing their stiffness and relieving the athlete of pain after exercise.

Cool down and stretch

You need to finish any workout with simple exercises for all muscle groups, light jogging and stretching. This will help get rid of the lactic acid that has accumulated in the muscles during exercise.

How to cope

It is recommended to deal with muscle pain after training using different methods. For example, you can find a recommendation to go to the bathhouse to warm up damaged tissues. They are also advised to continue moving despite the pain. But, of course, this should not be something active - on the contrary, all movements should be quite smooth and accurate. No excessive activity, so as not to worsen the condition.

Some advice is to take a break from training and instead go outside and saturate your body with oxygen. They also recommend massage to improve the situation. Ideally, it should be done by a specialist who knows exactly the anatomy and all the processes occurring in the muscles.

“In any case, it is worth remembering that physical exercise is a kind of medicine that must be correctly selected in terms of intensity, dosage and indications. A physical therapy specialist will help you with this. By the way, recent studies have shown that omega-3 fatty acids help reduce pain after exercise. But it’s worth remembering that taking any vitamins and supplements must be agreed with your doctor,” says Alexander Melia.

Research methods

The scientists included in the analysis works that met four criteria:

1. They described in detail the training and subsequent recovery methods.
2. Only one recovery method was analyzed in this work. Articles that examined, for example, massage in combination with active rehabilitation techniques or ice were excluded from the study because they did not evaluate the effectiveness of each separately. However, the analysis included work on the effectiveness of the combined action of massage and stretching.
3. The work contains at least one valid test to assess soreness, fatigue, degree of inflammation and muscle damage.
4. The study involved healthy adults over 18 and under 65 years of age.

results

As a result, French researchers selected and analyzed 99 publications, 80 of which looked at the effect of restorative methods on strength, 17 on fatigue, 19 on markers of inflammation and 37 on signs of muscle damage. They analyzed active recovery (light, short workouts), stretching, massage, massage plus stretching, electrical stimulation, shapewear, water immersion, contrast water treatments, cryotherapy, and hyperbaric therapy.

In general, restorative techniques are effective in relieving muscle pain and fatigue. For some reason, they help men better than women. Active recovery, massage, shapewear, immersion, contrast water treatments and cryotherapy significantly alleviate muscle pain, while stretching, electrical stimulation and hyperbaric therapy have proven to be virtually useless. For the relief of delayed onset muscle pain syndrome, massage turned out to be unrivaled (Fig. 1).

Massage, tight clothing and immersion in water cooler than body temperature worked well against fatigue (different methods suggest water colder than 15°C or with a temperature from 15 to 35°C). Stretching, electrical stimulation and contrast water treatments were ineffective, and active recovery even slightly increased the feeling of fatigue 24 hours after training. The number one remedy for fatigue is massage (Fig. 2).

Molecular markers of muscle damage and inflammation included elevated levels of creatine kinase, interleukin-6, and C-reactive protein. Restorative procedures, whatever they were, had little effect on the concentration of these markers in the blood plasma. An increase in the activity of the creatine kinase enzyme indicates, among other things, damage to skeletal muscle fibers. Massage slightly reduces the level of creatine kinase, while stretching, on the contrary, slightly increases it. Massage and cryotherapy reduce the concentration of interleukin-6, an indicator of inflammation. All three markers are well affected by immersion in water below body temperature; water warmer than 35°C does not reduce their concentration.

Varicose veins: risk factors

It is believed that women are more likely to suffer from this disease.

“As confirmed by epidemiological studies in the UK, Russia, and the USA, varicose veins affect both women, starting from a young age, and men. However, in women this disease occurs 15-20% more often than in men, says Alena Gribanova. “I assume this is due to the fact that connective tissue in women is not naturally so dense, hormonal levels, especially during pregnancy, change, and since the amount of circulating blood increases during this period, the load on the veins increases.”

This disease also occurs in men, but somewhat less frequently.

“The development of varicose veins can be promoted by hormonal disorders, cardiovascular diseases, physical inactivity, and obesity,” adds Grigory Bashkirtsev.

Risk factors for varicose veins also include:

• Elderly age.
  

  “Over the years, the muscle corset weakens, it is not able to pump properly (does not have the pumping function necessary to push venous blood) and the elasticity of the veins decreases,” says Grigory Bashkirtsev.

• Lifestyle.
  

  “Firstly, this is nutrition: a lack of plant fiber in food also leads to varicose veins. They are necessary for building the venous wall; their deficiency leads to various gastroenterological dysfunctions, which can affect intra-abdominal pressure, and it affects the quality of the flow of venous fluid,” notes Grigory Bashkirtsev. “Secondly, a sedentary and sedentary lifestyle, and prolonged standing can also negatively affect the health of the veins.”

  Plus, with a lack of training, the muscular corset of our body weakens. Venous vessels do not have their own muscular membrane, unlike arteries.

  “Venous blood flows from the periphery to the center through a complex valve system, as well as with the help of muscles that perform a pumping function, pushing venous blood higher,” recalls Grigory Bashkirtsev. - If some muscles are not working and pumping properly, other muscles are too tense. The flow of venous blood through them deteriorates, which leads to its stagnation and dilation of the veins.”

• Drinking alcohol and smoking also negatively affect the quality of the venous wall.

Causes

Among the main causes of muscle pain are:

• 
  heavy physical activity;

• injuries;
• being in a position that impairs blood circulation;
• flat feet or excess weight;
• walking in high heels;
• joint diseases;
• disorders of the musculoskeletal system;
• metabolic disorders;
• inflammatory processes;
• injuries: bruises, sprains, damage to bones and joints;
• bacteria, viruses and parasites as a source of intoxication;
• chronic fatigue;
• lack of vitamins B.

Attention! Qualified specialists from the Kuntsevo Treatment and Rehabilitation Center, which has modern diagnostic equipment, will help you find out the exact causes of persistent aching muscle pain.