Duration of sore muscles

The strength and length of a sore muscle varies from person to person and also depends on the intensity of exercise and diet. A very common case of sore muscles occurs after moderate exercise, a few hours after training, and usually disappears within three days of training. A severe muscle ache, on the other hand, is caused by a very regular and very high load that is repeatedly applied to the muscles.

This results in larger micro cracks and the muscle soreness lasts directly for several days, and the pain is also much stronger than with a light muscle ache. But it is not only the intensity of the load and the frequency of the training that affect the length of a sore muscle. Above all, the athlete’s handling of the sore muscles is decisive in determining the length of the muscle soreness. Athletes who make a direct effort to take measures for rehabilitation after training are usually released from the pain of sore muscles much earlier. Athletes who do not take any measures against sore muscles, on the other hand, suffer from the pain much longer.

Symptoms

Muscle soreness occurs at the earliest several hours after exercise due to muscle inflammation caused by the micro-injuries, not after exercise! For example, after doing many push-ups, one feels pain in the right or left arm. The musculature hardens, becomes stiff and sensitive to pressure.

In addition, the muscles feel weak and limp. The pain is strongest after two days and decreases more and more from then on. There are no specific tests for the diagnosis of muscle ache. The diagnosis is based solely on the patient’s medical history.

Therapy

There is no therapy for sore muscles.The pain subsides by itself after a few days. After an intensive training follows the first and/or second day after that the sore muscles. Every movement hurts and training is hardly possible during this time.

Fortunately, the sore muscles usually disappear on their own after a few days. Nevertheless, there are a few small aids to partially relieve the pain. You can work against the pain with heat treatments and thereby relieve it a little.

This method is often used by top athletes who swear by heat treatment. However, there is no scientific evidence for this. In addition to the warmth of a sauna session, a hot relaxing bath is another alternative that not only relieves the pain but also brings peace to the soul.

Counteracting sore muscles with a much less intensive training is another procedure that athletes swear by. However, the training session should be approached much more slowly and relaxed. If, for example, a certain distance was jogged the day before, the same distance can be jogged the following day. If you have very severe muscle ache, the pain can be relieved with medication. If the muscle soreness is less severe, gentle and light stretching can promote the healing process and relieve the pain.