Big bad DOMS

With the new term starting, some of you may find that you get stiff, sore muscles a day or two after your new workout. Perhaps you'll find yourself walking downstairs, tentatively supporting each step with the banister rail: “Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" This is the classic symptom of delayed onset muscle soreness, or DOMS as we call it in the trade. This article explains what DOMS is and whether it's friend or foe.

Some people are motivated by DOMS - “Whoop whoop! What a workout yesterday! I can hardly move!!”; whereas it puts other people off - "Boo! What a workout yesterday! I can hardly move!!"

But what does DOMS tell you about your workout? Contrary to popular belief, it isn't caused by a buildup of lactic acid that can be flushed away by water or massage, nor is it the result of failing to warm-up before or stretch after exercise. Instead, it is thought to be the result of inflammation caused by tiny tears (microtrauma) in the muscle tissue.

DOMS is a sign that you’ve worked your muscles harder than they are used to. However, it isn't an accurate measure of how much stronger you will get. A review on the effectiveness of DOMS as an indicator of muscle adaptations, stated, “although DOMS may provide a general indication that some degree of damage to muscle tissue has occurred, it cannot be used as a definitive measure." This damage - that microtrauma - is nothing to worry about. In fact, it is one of three key mechanisms that lead to muscle growth (hypertrophy). The other two are resistance (mechanical tension) and feeling the burn (metabolic stress). 

It is possible get stronger without DOMS, but most people accept it as part of the process. If, however, your soreness lasts for more than a few days, it can mean that you’ve overdone your workout, and if you regularly experience serious, long-lasting DOMS, then you risk injuries associated with overtraining. If you continue at the same level of effort, your experience of DOMS will diminish with each subsequent workout.

If DOMS bothers you, then here are my tips to get stronger while minimising soreness:

1. Try to avoid going too long between sessions, which will allow your muscles to weaken. If a break is unavoidable, ease yourself back in. Enthusiastically returning to exercise after a break is a prime example of when you’ll get DOMS.
2. Increase your effort gradually. If you lift weights, try increasing the weight for one muscle group at a time, so that only part of your body suffers from soreness. You may find this to be more manageable. 
3. Minimise eccentric exercises - when the muscle is loaded as in lengthens - as these cause the most DOMS. Exercises where you hold still (isometric) or shorten the muscle (concentric) do not cause as much DOMS as eccentric exercises. Be careful with isometric exercises if you have blood pressure problems.
4. Enjoy a regular, varied exercise routine including different exercise types, so that your muscles are adapted to lots of different ways of being used. This will leave them primed for new challenges, and less likely to suffer from DOMS.

If in spite of these precautions, you get troublesome DOMS, anything that increases blood flow to the affected muscles - massage, a heat pack or a hot bath - can help to alleviate the soreness. Gentle exercise can also help: it can initially be uncomfortable, but as you get into your stride it eases off. Once your muscles have cooled down again, the soreness will return, but it does provide short-term relief, and won’t add to the soreness the following day. If your soreness is very painful, then anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen and aspirin can help to alleviate the symptoms, but this will get better on its own.

If you want to get strong, DOMS can be your friend. Just think of it as one of those crazy friends that you enjoy seeing once in a while, but is simply too exhausting to be around all of the time.

Jane Mansley