The reason why you experience DOMS is because of microscopic tearing of the smaller components of your muscles called muscle fibers. Aside from the tearing, swelling can also occur at the muscle fibers, causing you to experience muscle pain. Studies say that the greater the intensity of exercise, the greater will the microscopic tearing be, and so it also follows that the soreness of the muscles will be of a greater extent. There are studies that further say that eccentric or lengthening contractions of muscles are more likely to cause DOMS. Examples of activities that require eccentric muscle contractions are slowly lowering of weights after you have lifted it and the downward motion that you perform during squats and push-ups.

Although DOMS can largely cause discomfort, rest assured that it is a normal phenomenon. It is actually expected that when you subject the muscles to strenuous exercise, DOMS will eventually occur in a few days. However, there are measures that you can do to prevent the occurrence of DOMS. To avoid the discomfort of having that dull, aching type of pain days after you exercise, follow these three important measures:

• Include a warm-up exercise for at least 10-15 minutes before your actual exercise regimen.

Gentle stretching of your muscles prior to your high intensity exercise can lower the tendency for you to experience DOMS. When you stretch prior to exercise, the muscles get more prepared for the actual exercise regimen.

• Perform a cool-down exercise for at least 10-15 minutes after the actual exercise regimen.

Having a cool-down exercise after vigorous exercise, rather than suddenly stopping, can help in preventing the occurrence of DOMS. Cool-down can be in a form of gentle stretching or low-intensity activities such as walking or marching in place.

• Progress your exercise gradually, not drastically.

With regards to progression of exercise, follow the ten percent rule. Progress the duration or intensity of your exercise only by ten percent a week. Also, be aware not to make sudden changes to your exercise regimen.

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Have you ever experienced severe muscle pain few days after a serious workout? DOMS or delayed onset muscle soreness might be a reason for that. It differs from acute muscle soreness in a sense that it can be felt few days following a heavy exercise. Some researches state that DOMS is caused by accumulation of lactic acid in muscle tissues, which usually happens in persons doing heavy exercises especially body builders and athletes. But recently, professionals are explaining that DOMS is caused by microtearing on skeletal muscles due to heavy exercise.

When would you say that you are experiencing DOMS?

Exercise physiologists do believe that it is DOMS when one experiences muscle soreness 24-48 hours after the exercise especially if the pain increases in intensity.

What are the major causes of DOMS?

• Lactic acid accumulation in muscles because of too much workout is the primary cause of DOMS.
• Tissue breakdown may also be the cause of DOMS. Biopsy studies of athletes especially runners were found to have more muscle destruction.  The cell membrane or sarcolemma of muscle cells will be destroyed causing its cell content to leak out between each muscle fiber.
• Inflammatory process – after heavy exercise or strenuous activity, white blood cell count has been shown to increase. This led to the conclusion that DOMS is also caused by inflammatory processes.

Training with DOMS

Exercising more the muscles affected with DOMS will have no effect in terms of reinforcement process. Therefore, training is not recommended in muscles with DOMS, as this may provoke the microtearing of the muscle fascia.

How to reduce the effect of DOMS?

There is no method at present that will speed up the recovery of the skeletal muscle from DOMS, but massage showed varying effects in DOMS, considering the of time of massage, the duration of massage and the type of massage being utilized. Intake of Vitamin C is believed to play a role in repairing damaged connective tissues. However, this has not been proven yet, besides intake of vitamin C in large amounts can even cause harmful effects. Lately, studies show that a protease supplement plays a major role in prevention and recovery from DOMS.

Who can experience DOMS?

Everyone can experience DOMS, but athletes, body builders and workers who need intense muscle contractions are the ones prone to experience DOMS, especially for beginners who are unaware of the importance of warm-up and cool-down exercises.

What is the best way to prevent DOMS?

Still, the best way to prevent DOMS is stretching before strenuous activities are made. Keep in mind that you need to warm-up for five to ten minutes before a serious workout and cool-down for five to ten minutes as well, to help in the prevention of DOMS. Stretching as mentioned above, would be a good form of warm-up and cool-down regimens.

Remember that exercising is very good for your health, but you need to consider exercise in its proper context to prevent damages in the different body tissues,  especially the skeletal muscles. You have to learn the different causes of DOMS, for you to learn how to prevent it from occurring. Always keep in mind that DOMS would lead to less productivity at work which would affect your work performance in general. Let us all be DOMS-free!

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