Dr. Jason Robertson, Center for Sports Medicine & Orthopaedics; member, Chattanooga-Hamilton County Medical SocietyQ: When I have practice at the end of the day, my muscles feel like jelly. How can I tell the difference between stress that will make me stronger and stress that could be damaging?
A: Some microtrauma is necessary for muscle growth and development. However, if your soreness lasts more than a few days and/or doesn’t improve with rest, you could have injured the muscle group or joint. Anytime we force our muscles to work harder than they normally do, or begin to use them in a new way, we cause microscopic tears to the muscles and surrounding connective tissue. The muscle soreness and stiffness that follows is called delayed-onset muscle soreness, or DOMS for short, and it’s an inflammatory response. DOMS is a normal physiological response that occurs within the first few days after exercise. However, if it’s extreme or simply won’t go away, you may have caused an injury.
– Dr. Jason Robertson, Center for Sports Medicine & Orthopaedics; member, Chattanooga-Hamilton County Medical Society