What causes soreness after exercise?

There are many people who do not exercise regularly. When they realize the importance of exercise, once they want to join the exercise team, they always need to go through a process of exercise. Most people will feel body soreness at the beginning of exercise, but after three to five days, this symptom will disappear automatically. Let the editor give you a detailed introduction to the reasons for soreness after exercise!

I believe most people will experience muscle soreness after their first strenuous exercise. Muscle soreness is a very troublesome thing for people who engage in sports, because it not only reduces the exercise ability of the athletes but also reduces their enthusiasm for exercise. In sports medicine, muscle soreness caused by exercise is generally divided into two types: one is pain that occurs immediately after exercise, but disappears quickly, which is called acute muscle soreness.

The other type occurs a few hours or overnight after exercise, accompanied by fatigue, and even muscle cramps and stiffness. This type of muscle pain disappears relatively slowly, and it often takes 3 to 4 days or even 6 to 7 days to fully recover. This symptom is called delayed muscle soreness or post-exercise fatigue. Acute muscle soreness is generally explained by lactic acid accumulation. "Muscle movement is like a machine that needs energy supply. However, the energy required by muscles is not electrical energy or thermal energy, but chemical energy released by the oxidation of energy substances such as sugar and fat in the body. When there is sufficient oxygen, such as when the human body is at rest, the sugar in the muscles is directly decomposed into carbon dioxide and water to release a large amount of energy.

However, when the human body is engaged in strenuous activities, skeletal muscles urgently need a large amount of energy. Although respiratory movement and blood circulation are greatly enhanced at this time, they still cannot meet the muscle tissue's demand for oxygen, causing the muscles to be temporarily hypoxic. Sugar breaks down in the absence of oxygen to produce a large amount of lactic acid. The lactic acid accumulates in the muscles and stimulates the nerve endings, which reflexively causes muscle soreness. At the same time, lactic acid is a hypertonic solution. When it accumulates in the muscles, it will absorb a large amount of water, causing muscle swelling, which is also an important cause of muscle soreness. However, after exercise, part of the lactic acid accumulated in the muscles is oxidized, and the other part diffuses with the blood, so the muscle soreness also disappears. Delayed onset muscle soreness or chronic muscle soreness. The causes of delayed onset muscle soreness are relatively complex, mainly including muscle soreness and muscle spasm. Muscle soreness often occurs due to long intervals between exercises, inability of the body to adapt, or irregular exercise forms.

From the above introduction, it can be seen that some soreness caused by exercise is a normal reaction of the human body. Generally speaking, if a person can tolerate this condition and persist in exercising, this condition will not occur again after regular exercise. In addition, you must control the length of exercise. Excessive exercise can also cause this condition in the body.