How to Make Sore Muscles Feel Good

Muscles can often feel sore after exercise or other strenuous activity. Although muscle pain can be aggravating and keep you from exercising, the good news is that the more you exercise, the less your muscles will hurt in the long run. Use these simple tips to alleviate common muscle soreness.

Edit Steps

Rest. This is the very best thing you can do for soreness. Try not to use the muscle in a strenuous fashion for 24-48 hours after exercise, especially if the soreness is due to a weight lifting routine.
- If weight lifting, target different sets of muscles on different days. Give your muscles time to rebuild after you strain and exert them. Try doing arms and chest one day, thighs and legs the next, and core exercises the final day. Repeat when you have reached the final muscle group installment.

Massage the muscles. When you exercise to exhaustion, tiny tears occur in muscle fibers. The body's natural response to these tears is inflammation. Massage helps reduce the amount of cytokines the body produces, which play a role in inflammation.^[1] Massage also seems to increase the amount of mitochondria in your muscle, which enhances the muscles' ability to extract oxygen.^[2]
- Get a massage. Seek out a massage therapist and allow them to work on your sore muscles. Massage therapy is relaxing, meditative, and healing.
- Massage the muscles yourself. Depending on the location of the soreness, you can try to give yourself a massage. Use a combination of your thumbs, knuckles and palms to work deep into the muscle tissue.

Stretch the muscles out. This will also help to get the lactic acid out of your muscles. Waiting a few hours after a strenuous workout before stretching is not the best. Stretch after activity that caused the soreness to prevent becoming stiff.

Ice the muscle indirectly. Doctors recommend icing the muscle or muscle groups immediately after activity to reduce inflammation and provide more lasting relief.^[3] When icing a muscle or muscle group, it's best to wrap an ice pack in some sort of buffer — light cloth works well — before applying.
- If you're an athlete, consider investing in a five-gallon bucket. For soreness of the arms (like from baseball practice) a five-gallon bucket filled with ice water will allow you to ice the whole arm at one time. This method will also work for feet.
- Use plastic wrap to secure ice to limbs or the body. If you need to be moving around (cooking, cleaning, etc.) while using ice, plastic wrap can help secure ice onto a muscle while you move.

Apply heat. After the first day of soreness, heat can be used to help blood flow to the muscle. This will help rebuilding take place and provide some soothing relief.
- Take a shower. Allow warm water to hit the muscles, relaxing them. Alternate with warm and cool water for a homemade hydrotherapy treatment.

Take pain medications such as NSAIDs. NSAIDs, or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, come in various forms. Ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), naproxen (Aleve), or aspirin are all commonly-used NSAIDs.
- If you are under the age of 18, or if the person you're caring for is under the age of 18, avoid use of aspirin. Aspirin in children under 18 has been linked with a dangerous disease called Reye's syndrome, which results in acute brain damage.^[4]
- Try to avoid using NSAIDs on a regular basis. NSAIDs can interfere with the muscle's ability to repair itself if taken regularly. It's best to find more natural ways of treating muscle pain if you can.

Plan a proper diet. If your muscles are sore from intense activities such as weightlifting, your muscles are rebuilding themselves and need lots of protein. Aim to take in 1 gram of protein per day for every pound of lean body mass you have.
- For example, a 160 lb. man at 20% body fat would want to take in approximately 130 grams of protein per day. This will speed up recovery times considerably, as well as prevent muscle loss from poor nutrition. Take Protein 15 to 45 minutes after workout for best results.
- Drink lots of water while you work out and throughout the day. Your muscles need water to function at their peak, and your body needs water to repair your muscles. Don't forget to drink water.

Avoid soreness before it happens. If you're working out, ease into your workout not by stretching, but with a light simulation of the exercise you are going to be performing.^[3] This will help prepare your body for a more strenuous version of the exercise.
- Consider taking vitamins, antioxidants, and other supplements. Vitamin C and antioxidants, in particular, have been effective in helping to prevent muscle soreness.^[3] Blueberries, artichokes, and green tea are antioxidant-rich^[5], while chili peppers, guavas, and citrus fruits are all high in vitamin C.^[6]

Edit Tips

Stretch while taking a shower. Use water which is slightly hotter than what you are used to. This increases blood flow around the muscle fibers with micro-tears.

If you are massaging a sore muscle, don't focus on the middle of the sore muscle. Focus more on the connections at each end. This will help the muscle to relax more quickly. If the muscles are along the back and neck, see a massage therapist. These areas are dangerous to massage without proper training.

If you do end up getting stiff from working out or some other physical activity where you have forgotten to stretch afterwards, massaging the stiff area will relieve you from the pain for a while. Then stretch and find another place of the muscle it hurts and massage there until the pain goes away.

Adding baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) to your bathwater is a home remedy that is very effective. Add 2-4 heaped tablespoons of soda to a full bathtub and stir a little to dissolve. Enjoy your bath. You should feel some relief immediately after you finish your bath.

You can improve circulation (which will speed up healing time and relieve sore muscles) by taking a shower with cold water for a few minutes, then with hot water for a few minutes, then finishing with a cold shower again.

You may want to consider a massage or sauna.

Sour cherry juice can also help your muscles feel better. Sour cherry juice is filled with antioxidants to help your working muscles during or after physical exercise. Sour cherry juice can be found at most health food stores.

An excellent source of protein would be fat-free chocolate milk, which can assist in muscle protein repair and replenish glycogen stores faster than most energy drinks after a long workout^[7]. It also provides sugar for your body which normal milk does not. The ideal carbohydrate:protein ratio for both energy replenishing and muscle recovery is 4:1.

Take a shower with hot water. Hot water helps relax the body.

Take a hot bath with Epsom salts.

Invest in a muscle roller. These are very useful for sore thigh and leg muscles. Press the roller into the sore muscle and rub it up and down. The action helps relieve tension and stress.

Edit Warnings

Sustained icing of sore muscles is not very effective. It is generally recommended to ice for 15-20 minutes, taking the ice off for the same 15-20 minutes, and repeating as desired. The reason for this is that icing for longer than the 15-20 minutes will not cool the muscle any more than it already is. Also, if iced for too long, the icing period can lead to frostbite, damage of the soft tissue, or skin damage.

Joint pain is a serious problem and can result in sustained, critical injury. Try not to confuse muscle pain and joint pain. If the pain does not go away after a few days rest and the other procedures prescribed here, it may be wise to contact a physician.

Be careful if you plan to immerse a whole arm as indicated above with the 5-gallon-bucket method. This may result in a rapid loss of body warmth and may affect your circulation. Do NOT do this if you have blood pressure or heart problems. Even if you are completely healthy, proceed slowly by dipping your arm in bit by bit, starting at the fingertips, especially if it is a hot day. It may be even better to make something resembling a Popsicle from regular water and wiping the arm with it (again, starting at the fingers), then drying immediately and massaging (moving from the hand towards the body). Be gentle to avoid causing pain or over-agitating the muscles.

Stretching both before and after exercise is important to avoid injuries, however it must be done properly. Consult a personal trainer at your local gym for tips on proper stretching.