by Savanah Mickey, LAT, ATC, CEAS

There are many monsters that lurk around the corner like high blood pressure, low grip strength, rising cholesterol, but Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) might be the most notorious of them all. Like any good villain, DOMS has earned a bad reputation mostly because we don’t fully understand where it comes from or how to defeat it. But fear not! We’re here to give you the tools to take down the supervillain known as DOMS.

The Monster: An Origin Story

DOMS is a mechanically induced microtrauma that occurs after exercise – essentially, tiny tears in the muscle fibers caused by unaccustomed or intense activity. It most often strikes beginners or anyone ramping up training load before the body has fully adapted.

It’s nice to know the origin story of all villains, but why is it important? When you start training to take down monsters, you may notice some pain in your quads or shoulders, but this is normal when starting a new task or increasing intensity, volume, or frequency.

Hallmark signs that DOMS is fast on your trail include tenderness, stiffness, pain, and a loss of strength, mobility, or flexibility. In fact, it starts as a dull ache within 6–12 hours post-activity, gradually increases in intensity, peaks around 48–72 hours, and can even last up to 7 days. The pain is thought to come from the breakdown of muscle tissue combined with the disruption of mechanoreceptors.

You may be thinking, “Then I should stop doing activity and just sit on the couch watching scary movies instead.” Yes, it’s true that you can be at an increased risk of injury during DOMS due to a temporary decrease in strength and range of motion, but we can’t stop fighting monsters altogether. Instead, adjust the volume and intensity of your training sessions until soreness decreases.

Mad Science & Monster Remedies

All of the mad scientists have been fast at work coming up with ways to use different modalities to take down the infamous DOMS. The use of ice (cold water immersion to test your superhero resilience) and heat (not a lava pit, but a heating pad) within one hour post-exercise has been shown to decrease soreness caused by DOMS.

Yet cold and heat can be some heroes’ kryptonite. So don’t fear, there’s more. The use of KT tape for DOMS has been shown to reduce soreness 48–72 hours after activity and increase strength after 72 hours. Vibratory massage has also been suggested to decrease the effects of DOMS by reducing soreness and stiffness while stimulating muscle repair.

These are all modalities that your Injury Prevention Specialists are equipped with to fight off DOMS, inflammation, and the effects of repetition. And if you’re hungry for something a little sweeter, it’s been suggested that chocolate milk may serve as a recovery aid due to its ideal carbohydrate-to-protein ratio.

Rest Easy, Monster Hunters

Now that you know DOMS’s tricks and how to fight back, you can rest easy knowing it’s not the monster under your bed. It’s part of becoming stronger. Your Work Right Injury Prevention Specialists are equipped with the know-how and tools to help you recover, repair, and return to action No silver bullets required.

Savanah Mickey, LAT, ATC, CEAS || Savanah has 5 years of athletic training experience across the military and industrial settings. When she isn’t assisting industrial athletes in western Kentucky, she enjoys golfing, working out, taking her cat for a walk, and baking.

---

Be sure to check out our other blogs for further injury prevention education and tips for the industrial athlete from Work Right NW!