Active Recovery Workouts and How They Can Ease Muscle Soreness

Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors

In this Article

• Why You Get Sore After Exercise
• Why Active Recovery Workouts Help Ease Muscle Soreness
• Exercises for Active Recovery
• When Not to Use Active Recovery
• Other Ways to Ease Sore Muscles

Whether you’re a serious athlete or an occasional exerciser, you’ve probably felt the pain of muscle soreness after a hard workout. As long as you are just sore and not injured, you may feel better faster with an active recovery workout, vs. passive recovery (just resting your body).

Active recovery workouts don’t need to take up too much of your time. They also don’t need to be hard – they shouldn’t be – and may include low-intensity exercise, yoga, swimming, or foam rolling.

Muscles grow and get stronger when you work them hard enough to cause tiny tears in the muscle tissue. It’s a natural process, but it can still cause mild discomfort.  

A different soreness happens when you try a new exercise or a new movement. It usually occurs hours or even a day or two later. Called delayed onset muscle soreness or DOMS, this can involve actual damage to muscles. To avoid this type of pain, experts recommend that when you try an unfamiliar sport or activity, you cut the duration by one-third. DOMS can also happen when you perform a familiar activity but you go extra hard.

Experts once thought that DOMS was due to lactic acid buildup in muscles, but they now recognize that’s not actually true. While the body forms lactic acid when it calls on stored energy, that excess lactic acid disappears rapidly when the period of exertion ends. It doesn’t cause soreness that can persist days later.

When you have any type of muscle pain after exercising, you have two options: passive recovery or active recovery. Passive recovery is resting the body. This type of recovery is good for strains and other injuries. For other post-exercise aches and pains, though, experts recommend active recovery, which can be almost any type of light exercise.

Active recovery works because it increases blood flow to the muscles and joints. This improved blood supply takes away toxins and brings in fresh nutrients for healing.

Active recovery workouts should be moderate in intensity. Aim at a heart rate of 30% to 60% of your maximum. Studies show that recovery workouts are less effective when they are hard or vigorous.

There are many exercise options for active recovery. It’s smart to choose an activity that you like so your recovery will be as helpful to your body as your mind. Some active recovery workouts include:

Low-intensity exercise. It’s OK to use your regular form of exercise for an active recovery workout. Just remember to dial down the intensity. If you walk or jog, do it at a pace that makes it possible to carry on a conversation. A bike ride is another option. You can even do weight training if you decrease your weight, repetitions, or both. 

Yoga. Yoga, and especially slow-paced disciplines like yin yoga, are great for recovery. Yoga can refresh you mentally and psychologically while aiding your physical recovery. 

Foam rolling. Some people find relief from sore muscles by using a foam roller, which combines the benefits of exercise and massage. To try this method, place the roller between the floor and the sore area of the body. Slowly roll on it to put light pressure on the muscles. 

Foam rolling can be uncomfortable, and beginners should use it in small doses while avoiding pressure on bones and joints.

Swimming and water exercise. Working out in water allows you to benefit from the pressure of the water on the body, which can be compared to the sensation of a light massage. This pressure improves circulation while minimizing stress on the joints. 

In one study of runners, those who used swimming for recovery outperformed a passive recovery group on a run the following day.

Pain that exceeds normal soreness means that you may need rest or medical care. Besides taxing the muscles, exercise can put stress on bones, tendons, and cartilage. Pain in these areas is likely to be due to an injury. Active recovery strategies could make the injury worse. 

See your doctor if you have any of these symptoms after exercise:

• Pain that is constant, sharp, or worsening 
• Pain in the area of a previous injury or surgery
• A painful area that looks deformed, bruised, or swollen
• Pain that doesn’t improve with rest, icing, or anti-inflammatory medications
• Pain combined with fever, chills, nausea, or vomiting
• Pain that interferes with sleep

Rest: Taking a day off gives your body a chance to repair itself and replenishes your energy. Jennifer Rulon, a seven-time Ironman triathlete and triathlon coach, says the second day after an intense workout can be the toughest. So she suggests doing light exercise the day after a heavy workout, then taking off the next day.

Ice: Icing for 20 to 30 minutes can lessen blood flow to sore muscles, which often reduces swelling and pain. And remember: Just because you can’t see muscles swelling doesn’t mean they are not inflamed. Be sure to put a towel between the ice pack and your skin and stick to the time limit (20-30 minutes) to protect your skin. 

Heat: If your muscles still ache after 48 hours, try applying some heat (carefully). It can stimulate blood flow to your muscles to ease tightness and help them feel better. Try a warm (not hot) towel or heating pad. But be careful. Take care and watch your body’s response. In some cases, heat can further inflame muscles. Follow manufacturer instructions to avoid skin burns, and avoid direct contact with any heating device.

Stretching: A gentle stretching routine can help break the cycle of tight sore muscles. Talk to your health care provider or a physical therapist if you’re unsure where to start, especially if you have any injuries.

Massage: It can relieve muscle tension, boost blood flow, and increase the range of motion in your joints. It’s also a great mood lifter. When your muscles are sore, a gentle massage is best. Light pressure may be better for recovery than a deep-tissue massage. Or try tender-point acupressure in which a massage therapist applies pressure and holds it directly on the tender areas.

Medication: You can try an anti-inflammatory medication. Over-the-counter versions can reduce swelling and relieve pain. Try aspirin, ibuprofen, or naproxen.

Compression garments: Wearing compression­ sleeves during or after a workout can­ help decrease muscle soreness afterward ­and help you recover ­for your next workout. Sleeves might go over your calves when you run, and over your arms when you lift weights. Your health care team can help find the right fit for you.

Nutrition: Make sure you get enough nutrients to feed your tired muscles and replenish your energy stores. A good balance of protein, fat, and carbohydrates is important. In general, protein helps with muscle repair and carbohydrates help replenish energy stores after aerobic exercise. Be sure to get enough water and electrolytes (essential minerals like sodium, potassium, and magnesium) too.  

Top Picks

6 foods you need to ease muscle soreness naturally

• Health & Nutrition
• Wholicious living

Getting back into any exercise routine can literally be a pain in the butt. Achy muscles after a hard workout, or the first few workouts after a long break from exercising, is normal and can even be healthy.

Good muscle soreness is a sign that you are pushing your muscles to their limits. What’s going on inside your body is that your exercises are actually causing small tears in your muscle fibres, which generally repair in a few days. This breaking down and repairing of muscles actually makes them stronger.

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Healthy muscle soreness usually peaks between 24 and 48 hours after exercising and then it eases. If the pain lasts any longer, get it checked out by a doctor.

So if your muscle soreness is good, what can you do to help ease the aches and make it easier to stick to your new exercise regime? Our dietitians have shared a list of budget-friendly whole foods that contain important nutrients to aid in muscle repair and ease muscle soreness – and there’s no protein powder in sight.

6 foods that help with muscle soreness and recovery

While no single food or nutrient will prevent muscle soreness, eating a well-balanced diet, including some of the following foods, may help with muscle recovery after your next gym workout:

1. WHOLEGRAIN BREAD

That’s right, don’t ditch the carbs. Eating quality carbs, like wholegrain bread or cereals, helps fuel your body during exercise and may help prevent muscle cramps. After a workout, carbs help to replenish muscle fuel stores. Wholegrains will also give your body a range of nutrients including fibre, protein, B vitamins, iron, zinc, magnesium and copper. Something as simple as peanut butter on wholegrain toast is a perfect go-to that provides quality carbs and protein – a combination that helps reduce the breakdown of muscle protein. Here’s how to get the right balance of protein throughout the day.

2. RICOTTA OR COTTAGE CHEESE

Another great toast topper, these spreadable cheeses provide a source of calcium. While known as the nutrient that keeps your bones strong, calcium is also vital for muscle and nerve function.

3. NUTS
These little morsels are loaded with goodness and provide your body with protein as well as nutrients like magnesium. Brazil nuts are the best nutty source but almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, pecans and pine nuts all contain magnesium. There’s been a lot of talk recently about the benefits of magnesium. This essential mineral helps create new proteins to repair muscles and supports normal muscle function. Nuts are also good for your weight and your heart, which you can read more about here.

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4. LEGUMES

Legumes are high in zinc, which is known for its healing properties. As well as helping your body repair wounds, zinc supports protein synthesis and breaks down carbohydrates to make it easier for your body to replenish fuel stores. Other sources of zinc include wholegrains, tofu, nuts and seeds.

5. WATERMELON
More than a juicy thirst quencher, watermelon has some surprising nutrition credentials. It contains the amino acid l-citrulline, which has been shown to soothe aching muscles. One study, which tested watermelon juice as a recovery drink for athletes, showed it helped muscle soreness.

6. SEEDS
Flax seeds, hemp seeds and chia seeds are all plant sources of omega-3, known as ALA or α-linolenic acid. This fatty-acid is a building block your body uses to create hormones that regulate a wide range of functions, including controlling inflammation and muscle contraction and relaxation. Your body can’t make omega-3, so you need to include it in your diet. Other plant sources of omega-3 include soybeans , walnuts, seaweed, leafy greens and wheatgerm.

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Drug-Free Pain Relief

Children’s Cancer Centers offer a variety of drug-free pain relief options. These strategies help children and adolescents control their physical and emotional response to pain.

Coping with pain is not always possible and not immediately. Sometimes you have to try several methods and their combinations before finding an effective one. If necessary, the patient may be referred to specialists in child adaptation, physical therapy, occupational therapy, psychological assistance or nursing, who will help to master certain techniques for relieving pain. Priests or social workers are available to provide spiritual or family support.

Some pain relief techniques may be available outside of pediatric cancer centers. However, before contacting other organizations or trying to relieve pain on their own, the patient’s family should consult with doctors.

The following techniques are most commonly used:

• Distraction: This strategy encourages the patient to focus on something else to ignore the discomfort.
  • This can be counting, singing, or a toy during short procedures (eg, needle sticks).
  • If the patient is experiencing more prolonged attacks of pain, you can involve him in a favorite activity such as watching a movie, talking with family and friends, video games or board games.
• Relaxation: This approach involves deep breathing, meditation, or listening to soothing music. It helps relieve anxiety and reduce muscle tension.
• Role model: The patient observes a person they want to imitate or who demonstrates useful ways of coping with pain. It could be another patient or someone close to you. This method works best if the role model expresses their excitement about the procedure and then demonstrates or explains how to deal with it. The idea is that the patient sees the reaction from the outside and can subsequently use the demonstrated strategy.
• Cold/Heat:
  • Cold can relieve pain caused by inflammation, swelling, injury, or pain after certain procedures. Ice packs or pieces of ice wrapped in a towel are the easiest ways to apply cold to the painful area.
  • Heat can relieve pain because it speeds up blood flow. A warm bath or warm towels can help relieve the pain. Please consult your doctor before using the heating pad.
• Exercise: Physical activity such as walking, cycling or yoga helps strengthen muscles, relax stiff joints and increase blood flow.
  • Physical activity regime: it is important to maintain a regime of rest and activity. Making a plan allows you to set the level of activity, taking into account pre-set goals. This way you can slowly and safely increase your activity level.
• Guided Imaging: This approach trains the patient to focus on visualizing pleasurable things, sounds, tastes, smells, or other sensations. The maximum effect is achieved if the patient uses all five senses.
• Massage: Gentle pressure during massage accelerates the flow of fluids in the body, stretches the tissues and relaxes the body.
• Biofeedback: This is a technique by which the mind learns to control the body’s response to stressors such as pain.
  • In biofeedback, sensors are attached to the skin to measure the patient’s response to stress by recording things like heart rate. As the patient uses various strategies (such as deep breathing or visualization), they can observe on the computer screen how one or another strategy leads to a decrease in heart rate. The patient sees which approaches are most effective and learns to use them to control the body’s response to pain.
• Medical Hypnosis: Hypnosis is a set of techniques designed to increase concentration, minimize distractions, and enhance perception in order to control thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in pain.
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): CBT can combine several techniques, such as rethinking or restructuring thoughts. These strategies teach the patient to monitor and evaluate negative or illogical thoughts and attitudes and then replace them with more positive ones.

Pain specialists may also suggest keeping a pain journal to help determine the best way to relieve pain.

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Revised: June 2018

How to Beat Joint Pain: Three Known Ways and One New

Joint pain is a familiar thing for many, but it doesn’t make it any more pleasant. How to defeat her? Depends on intensity.

Method 1: self-massage

If the pain is mild, then self-massage can help. Remember how you rubbed the bruised place? This is not only a natural reaction, but also a great way to reduce discomfort. It also works for osteoarthritis. The fact is that this disease leads to changes not only in the joint itself, but also in the tissues surrounding it. For this reason, osteoarthritis is often accompanied by painful muscle spasms. They can be removed with the help of self-massage, significantly improving your condition.

To do everything right, you need to massage the muscles of the arms and legs with direct vigorous movements towards the center of the body, the shoulders – towards the neck, and the neck – from the back of the head to the shoulders.

Method 2: Topicals

If vigorous rubbing does not work on its own, it’s time to add topical formulations. It is best if it is not a distracting ointment with menthol or hot pepper in the composition, but a gel with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). It fights inflammation, the main cause of osteoarthritis pain.

NSAID gel should be applied to the affected area, rubbing it into the body for at least 45 seconds to allow the drug to be better absorbed. In this case, the joint should be smeared around the circumference: for example, the joints of the fingers are smeared both on the back and on the inside of the hand. The gel should act and relieve pain for about an hour. All this time you can not take a bath, so as not to wash off the remnants of the medicine.

Method 3: Tablets

One of the most common ways to combat joint pain in osteoarthritis is with NSAIDs in tablet form.

They act faster than the gel, but are considered more dangerous in terms of side effects, especially if the patient has chronic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, liver, kidneys and cardiovascular system. Also, the likelihood of complications increases when the dose and duration of use specified in the instructions are exceeded.

To prevent this from happening, before taking these drugs, you should consult with your doctor, who knows about all your chronic diseases and can evaluate both the possible benefits and the likely risks of taking NSAIDs in tablet form.

Bonus: magnetophoresis

And there is another option, it allows you to relieve pain both quickly and safely. This is magnetophoresis. First, a gel with NSAIDs is applied to the joint, and then emitters of a special physiotherapy apparatus are immediately applied to it and a magnetic therapy session is performed. The impact lasts about 20 minutes, and during this time the pain is significantly reduced or disappears altogether.

This is due to the combined action of NSAIDs and a physical factor. The magnetic field promotes the penetration of the medicinal substance deep into the tissues of the body and normalizes local blood circulation. All this allows the NSAID gel to act faster and stronger than usual. It is not difficult to carry out such physiotherapeutic procedures, you can do it yourself.