Is it DOMS or an injury?
How to tell the difference between DOMS (post exercise soreness) vs Injury, and what to do about both.
How to tell the difference between normal post exercise soreness (DOMS), and injury, and what you can do about both.
DOMS (Delayed onset muscle soreness) is the normal muscle achiness you get after starting an unfamiliar exercise, coming back to training after time off, or after a particularly heavy or high rep training session.
At a microscopic level it is tiny tears of the muscle fibres which is the necessary evil (depending how you look at it!) to stimulate your body to adapt and come back stronger/fitter once the muscle has repaired.
If you’ve never felt it before, or sometimes after a particularly intense session, the discomfort can be so intense that you might start to worry that you might have done something else this time!
We’ve got you covered! Read through the checklists below for the difference between the common DOMS symptoms vs Injury and what you can do about both.
DOMS
TIME FRAME: Usually occurs ~12-24 hours after unfamiliar or intense training, begins to ease after ~48-72 hours. DOMS straight after training often feels more like “jelly-legs” that can still function but are not painful.
WARMS UP: The soreness should ease with continued movement or a warm shower.
LOCALISED PAIN: You’ll be able to find it by pressing the muscle group or area of your body that you trained (e.g. quads if you did squats, lats if you did pull ups). Usually the pain will be about equal on both sides of your body if you trained both sides.
MUSCULAR ACHE WITH USE: No pain at rest - you shouldn’t feel DOMS unless you are using the affected muscle group.
SORENESS WITH STRETCH: Usually you will feel DOMS in the movement direction that stretches that muscle - eg: straightening your elbows with bicep DOMS, walking down stairs with quad DOMS.
WEAKNESS OR ”JELLY ARMS/LEGS”: You might feel like your limbs give way with similar movement patterns as above (we call this eccentric movements), this might improve with warming up.
What you can do about it:
1. Keep moving! Generally DOMS warms up, so once you’re up and going or moving the area it should ease a little. A warm shower can help ease the symptoms too.
2. Wait it out. Don’t worry - it should start to ease up after about the 48 hour mark.
3. Don’t take anti-inflammatories. The inflammation associated with DOMS is a necessary process in adapting and getting stronger/fitter after the training session. Reducing this process can reduce the effect of all your hard work.
4. Don’t over stretch, not to ease the symptoms anyway, it won’t do a whole lot to speed up the recovery so you’re better off just using the time to move gently!
5. Gentle massage might help ease the symptoms slightly for a little while, but it won’t really speed up the process either.
5. Train gently, but don’t go too hard on the same area or with a similar workout, give your body time to adapt or you may end up overloading yourself and in the injury section.
INJURY
TIME FRAME: More severe pain felt during/soon after your training session, or 1-2 hours later once you cool down and doesn't begin to ease naturally. If it worsens after ~48-72 hours it is unlikely to be DOMS.
MIGHT NOT WARM UP: Some injuries won't improve or will worsen with continued movement/use of the painful part. Be careful as some tendon/muscle injuries or strains will also warm up, but then are likely to feel worse once cooled down.
WHERE IS IT: One side notably worse, or pain felt further up or down from the area is likely to not be DOMS. Pain that doesn’t feel like it’s in the muscle, or if it’s very obviously in the joints or tendons is also not normal DOMS symptoms.
TYPE of PAIN: Burning/shooting or sharp, deep throbbing pain at rest, or when the muscle is unloaded is not a DOMS symptom. Catchy, pinchy or clicky pains are also not typical of DOMS.
OTHER SYMPTOMS/NIGHT PAIN: Pins and needles/numbness, and severe resting/night pain that keeps you awake is not typical of DOMS.
WEAKNESS: More severe weakness in a concentric pattern (opposite direction to the muscle stretching), that has no associated pain is less typical of DOMS.
What you can do about it:
If your symptoms are mild you can try to wait-and-see for a few more days and just keep the area moving gently to give the area time to heal on its own.
If the niggling lasts longer than about 4-5 days after the training session in question, it may be worth getting it checked out.
For any severe symptoms, pins and needles/numbness or shooting pain, painful clicking and locking, or simply if you are worried its best to go and see your Physiotherapist or another health professional.
Check out our blog on managing Acute Injuries with “PEACE & LOVE”
Often when we catch and manage injuries early they are easy to manage and you’ll reduce your time off in the long run!
We’d love to hear from you and answer any questions if you are concerned. Or click through to book an appointment.
Formotion Physio is a boutique Physiotherapy practice based in West Perth , Joondalup & Osborne Park, Western Australia
Do you really need to squat so straight?
Why it’s ok for your knees to go over your toes and for your feet to be wider than your hips when you squat.
There are a few old ideas and myths that come up in the clinic, which we often have to spend a good chunk of time re-educating about. A few of which relate to how you should squat.
The two main ones which we’d like to bust with this blog are:
“You should never let your knees go over your toes”
&
“You need to squat with your feet and knees straight forward, or in line with the hips”
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These misconceptions are based on some old research, but as we know, research is continuously being updated and improved on. These ideas have since been found to not be true as a blanket statement.
If you have been told and believe either of these things, this blog is to free you from these ideas and give you permission to move and squat how your body was designed to!
Lets break them down:
Myth 1. “You should never let your knees go over your toes”
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In short, in healthy populations, it is completely fine, and actually good for your knee joints and muscles to move and get stronger throughout their whole range of movement.
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It can also help improve your squat technique by allowing you to distribute your weight better. Without bending your knees enough you have to compensate by either leaning forward or excessively bending the hips to get your full depth squat.
Your body is designed to squat low - think of the movements of a child, almost everyone in Asia, or you, when camping and nature calls! (Possibly not quite as comfortable looking, yet!)
Watch this video to see the difference:⠀
We will say though, if you have been avoiding this for a while, you’ll need to slowly re-introduce it so your knees have time to adapt to moving into a range they are unaccustomed to.
Myth 2. “You need to squat with your feet and knees straight forward, or in line with the hips”
Everyone’s hip joints are a slightly different shape, check out these two femur (thigh) bones to see what we mean!
This means your squat will look different depending on your body’s anatomy.
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Forcing your knees/feet to move straight forward when your body and bones aren’t designed to is often a reason for finding the whole experience difficult, “pinchy in the hips” or uncomfortable, no matter how much mobility work you do!⠀
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Watch this video for the difference in ability to squat to full depth with the feet and knees in line with the hips vs wider than the hips.
In short, the best position is whatever is most comfortable for you, and whatever is best for you to produce force (lift heavy things). ⠀
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We suggest playing with a few variations of foot width/turn out and see what works best for you in terms of comfort/force production. Generally it’s best to pick somewhere in the middle of your ideal range (not too wide/narrow) so you have room to move either in or out if required, or to land slightly wider for our olympic weightlifters.
Please note that if you have been told to squat in a particular way for a specific medical reason, then please carry on with whatever works for you!
Still stuck? Let us help you.
Formotion Physio is a boutique Physiotherapy practice based in West Perth & Osborne Park, Western Australia
By Lucia Tennant
Physiotherapist and Founder of Formotion Physio
BSc Physiotherapy