Time course of muscle soreness following different types of exercise

Description

Background Post-exercise muscle soreness is a dull, aching sensation that follows unaccustomed muscular exertion. Primarily on the basis of previous laboratory-based research on eccentric exercise, soreness is usually said to follow an inverted U-shaped curve over time, peaking 24 – 48 hours after exercise. As such, it is often described as "delayed-onset" muscle soreness. In a study of long-distance runners, soreness seemed to peak immediately and then reduce gradually over time. The study is a secondary analysis of clinical trial data that aims to determine whether the time course of soreness following a natural exercise, long-distance running, is different from that following a laboratory-based exercise, bench-stepping. Methods This is a reanalysis of data from three previous clinical trials. The trials included 400 runners taking part in long-distance races and 82 untrained volunteers performing a bench-stepping test. Subjects completed a Likert scale of muscle soreness every morning and evening for the five days following their exercise. Results Interaction between trial and time is highly significant, suggesting a different time course of soreness following running and bench-stepping. 45% of subjects in the bench-stepping trial experienced peak soreness at the third or fourth follow-up (approximately 36 – 48 hours after exercise) compared to only 14% of those in the running trial. The difference between groups is robust to multivariate analysis incorporating possible confounding variables. Conclusion Soreness in runners following long-distance running follows a different time course to that in untrained individuals undertaking bench-stepping. Research on exercise taking place in the laboratory context does not necessarily generalize to exercise undertaken by trained athletes when engaged in their chosen sport.

Resources

Name Format Description Link
21 Visit the original government dataset for complete information, documentation, and data access. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC59671/

Tags

  • muscle-soreness
  • long-distance-running
  • nih
  • delayed-onset-muscle-soreness
  • exercise-induced-pain

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