How can I prevent or treat muscle soreness after running?

Leg Exercise

Running can be a fun and energising way to burn off some energy, improve your mental health, and maintain your overall well-being. However, having lower back hurt when running or feeling sore later in the day or even in the days following a run can put many people off from throwing on their runners to do a quick lap of the park. What can be done to reduce the impact that delayed onset muscle soreness (or DOMS for short) has on you and your running goals?

You might see elite runners use recovery methods that require special equipment (e.g., ice baths) and clinics (e.g., vibration therapy) to ensure they quickly recover before challenging their body again in their next performance workout..

Although these techniques might offer some relief (Adamczyk et al., 2016; Lynch et al, 2012), they aren’t really accessible to the regular couch to 5k type. Let’s have a look at some other, more practical methods to keep DOMS at bay the next time to achieve a new PB.

Massage

Everyone loves an excuse to get a massage. Massage has been shown to be just as effective as exercise in improving DOMS, but the relief was seen as only temporary in a group of women performing shoulder exercises (Andersen et al., 2013). It might be easier to get a massage than to do exercise, but it costs you a lot more too!

For runners who are unable to access regular massage therapy following lower limb strength or resistance training sessions, or for those seeking more cost-effective options, there are alternative recovery strategies that can offer similar benefits and are more accessible for regular use.

Stretching

Lots of people love a good stretch after a run and sometimes before. But not all stretching is created equal. Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) stretching can work better than static stretching (holding the stretch) to reduce DOMS in runners, but either one works fine (Sohail et al., 2022).

 What does PNF stretching look like? It’s similar to static stretching, where you hold the stretch for a short period, such as 15 seconds, before relaxing and stretching a little further. 

Strength Training

You can’t be a strong runner without doing strength training. Strength training for runners not only reduces your risk of injury, but it can also help to prevent DOMS! Forty long-distance male runners were divided into two groups, where one group performed stretching exercises and the other group performed stretching exercises as well as eccentric strength training of their quads. Imagine doing slow, heavy squats. The down phase is the eccentric bit where the quad stretches while also contracting. The runners did these types of exercises for two weeks before participating in an athletic event. Those who did the stretching plus eccentric strength training experienced significantly less DOMS than those who only did stretching (Selkar et al., 2022)  

Last lap

I have presented three treatments that runners might consider to help treat and prevent DOMS. As a physio and run coach, I’d recommend runners to focus on strength training as a primary preventative measure for not only DOMS but also injury. If you love the feel of a good stretch and a massage too, then by all means, do that as well! There’s no harm in it.

Need some help achieving your running goals? Book a telehealth appointment with Performance Medicine’s exercise and run coach, Dr Brea Kunstler, to see how she can help you achieve your goals. 

References 

Adamczyk, J. G., Krasowska, I., Boguszewski, D., & Reaburn, P. (2016). The use of thermal imaging to assess the effectiveness of ice massage and cold-water immersion as methods for supporting post-exercise recovery. Journal of thermal biology, 60, 20-25.

Andersen, L. L., Jay, K., Andersen, C. H., Jakobsen, M. D., Sundstrup, E., Topp, R., & Behm, D. G. (2013). Acute effects of massage or active exercise in relieving muscle soreness: randomized controlled trial. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 27(12), 3352-3359.

Lynch, E., & Barry, S. (2012). The effectiveness of ice water immersion in the treatment of delayed onset muscle soreness in the lower leg. Physiotherapy Practice and Research, 33(1), 9-15.

Selkar, S. P., Ramteke, G. J., & Dongare, A. K. (2010). Effect of eccentric muscle training to reduce severity of delayed onset muscle soreness in athletic subjects.

Sohail, M. A. A., Tahir, R., Maqbool, A., Hanif, S., & Saeed, O. (2022). Comparing the effectiveness of static stretching and proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation stretching in treating delayed onset muscle soreness in the calf muscles of runners. Anaesthesia, Pain & Intensive Care, 26(1), 31-38.

Dr Brea Kunstler