Holy hell…..I’m even more sore now!
Ok….so I went on a 3 mile run this morning with already sore legs, and now my right quad is so sore I can hardly walk. I immediately took some glutamine and iced it, then ate and went and sat in the hot tub. Oh….also took 2 Aleve. What the crap did I do? Maybe it’s just an accumulation of lactic acid. What’s your opinion on working out on already sore muscles? I thought it was better for sore legs to do cardio. Any thoughts?
April 27, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Its definitely re-stimulating it, but its just like getting a massage or anything else when an area is inflamed. Fatigue soreness is a different story than injury soreness. Your body just got more than it expected and has to adapt again. While it tastes terrible, apple cider vinegar is great to help flush out lactic acid and cleanse your system a bit. Seriously it is potent if you take it in a shot! Its the easiest way, but still might wanna start with a little less and water it down first. I find the capsule form isn’t as effective. As for the heat, try alternating heat 5 minutes, cool (does not need to be ice cold) 2 minutes and repeat that 4-5x. The heat soothes and relaxes, but promotes the inflammation, hence the cool to bring the body temp down to normal again, constrict the blood vessels, and push/flush out the toxins. Always finish with cool. If that still doesn’t work, hot epsom salt soak for 15-20 minutes with 2 cups of salt. The salts will pull more toxins out and the heat will cause you to sweat out even more. Works great right before bed. You’ll be dehydrated, so make sure to drink a full glass of water before you go to sleep.
Ok, that’s my little massage therapist recovery tangent for the day… Hope that helps!
April 27, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Heya Hardcoremom!
I can tell you right now it’s not a build-up of lactic acid. The ‘burn’ you feel is not due to lactic acid per se, it is due to the drop in the pH of the muscle. Soreness is due to microtears in the muscle. If you’ve stretched, you’ve done some good for the tendon’s (as far as flexibility is concerned) but not much for the belly of the muscle. My advice is to do 2 things:
- Roll out the muscle (this is a form of deep tissue massage); if you don’t have a foam roller, simply get a hold of a tennis ball and put it between your sore muscle and the floor as you lay face down on the ground. Put the weight of your leg on the tennis ball; it will hurt like hell as you roll the ball up around the sore muscle (by moving your legs). Do this until the pain is reduced by at least 75%. Stretching can only do so much. Rolling and massage will help with the ’suppleness’ of the muscle. This will improve recovery and reduce pain.
- ice the crap out of it, but no longer than 20 minutes at a time.
This will help…trust me….I’m paying $35,000 a year to go to school for this stuff.
April 27, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Trixter’s right on it! A little contrast therapy (hot/cold….but always finishing with cold) will help once the injury/soreness is a couple of days old.
April 27, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Trix and swim are both well qualified to give you advice on the AFTER "how to fix it", Heather. As for me…..i always subcribe to some preventative philosophy too…."If it hurts from yesterday–don’t work it today". Perhaps like you, I learned the hard way. You’ll be sore for a couple or three days, but you’ll heal.
September 14, 2008 at 11:45 am
Excellent information. Thanks for sharing everyone. I will definitely try Trixter’s tip as well as SwimDave’s massage therapy. Thanks guys! Hope you feel better HardcoreMom. We’ve all been there!
Surf :0)