How can you reduce DOMS?

[lastmanstanding]

Ive heard that stretching reduces DOMS. Ive also heard that stretching does not reduce DOMS. Ive also heard that cooling down reduces DOMS.

Im asking for ways to prevent DOMS and make DOMS heal more quickly, or more generally, ways to recover from training more quickly.

Im also wondering about nutrition that might achieve the above aims

[Honken]

Eat more calories, take contrast bathes/showers. Stretching won't do much but promote blood flow.

[Rahf]

Supposedly EAA can reduce DOMS according to some random studies.

Stretching does correlate with DOMS, it does of course have other benefits so don't let up on it after working out. -

Am J Phys Med Rehabil. 2007 Jun;86(6):474-81.

"Cryotherapy, stretching, homeopathy, ultrasound and electrical current modalities have demonstrated no effect on the alleviation of muscle soreness or other DOMS symptoms."

Sports Med. 2003;33(2):145-64. Delayed onset muscle soreness : treatment strategies and performance factors.

"The exercise bout produced severe DOMS, with parameters peaking and troughing at 48 h postexercise. However, no significant differences were found, regarding any of the parameters, when comparing stretched and nonstretched legs."

Scand J Med Sci Sports. 1999 Aug;9(4):219-25.

"Other conventional approaches, such as massage, ultrasound, and stretching appear less promising."

J Strength Cond Res. 2003 Feb;17(1):197-208. Treatment and prevention of delayed onset muscle soreness.

"It is concluded that passive stretching did not have any significant influence on increased plasma-CK, muscle pain, muscle strength and the PCr/P(i) ratio, indicating that passive stretching after eccentric exercise cannot prevent secondary pathological alterations."

Scand J Med Sci Sports. 1998 Aug;8(4):216-21. The effect of stretching on delayed onset muscle soreness, and other detrimental effects following eccentric exercise.

"Stretching before or after exercising does not confer protection from muscle soreness."

BMJ. 2002 Aug 31;325(7362):468, Effects of stretching before and after exercising on muscle soreness and risk of injury: systematic review.

"No time-by-treatment interactions were found. DOMS on pressure, extension angle and myoglobin concentration in blood did not differ between the groups."

Int J Sports Med. 1994 Oct;15(7):414-9.

"We concluded that static stretching and/or warm-up does not prevent DOMS resulting from exhaustive exercise."

Res Q Exerc Sport. 1989 Dec;60(4):357-61.

[Ernest]

Sore boobs are not nice when running down stairs.

[compleks]

Training consistently can basically eliminate DOMS altogether.

[flexibility]

Train more.
And eat magnesium(this is not based on any scientific studies, only on my own experiences).

[JacktheHero]

I assumed the OP wanted to know more about recovery in general, not only DOMS (edit: he does, should read posts more carefully).
Going by that analysis and some random studies:
Treatment and Prevention of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2003.
http://www.hawaii.edu/hivandaids/Treatment%20and%20Prevention%20of%20Delayed%20Onse t%20Muscle%20Soreness.pdf

NSAIDs, Ice baths, Active recovery, antioxidants vit E/C (supplementation or diet for that matter) and contrast showers have shown promise. However, there is some conflicting evidence.
I am not so sure about pre-/during-/post-workout nutrition. Oh, and certainly training regularly also helps.

Ice/Cold Water Immersion:
- There are some football teams and many individuals doing that afaik.

Eston et al. Effects of cold water immersion on the symptoms of exercise-induced muscle damage. J Sports Sci. 1999 Mar.
"We conclude that although cold water immersion may reduce muscle stiffness and the amount of post-exercise damage after strenuous eccentric activity, there appears to be no effect on the perception of tenderness and strength loss, which is characteristic after this form of activity."

Bailey et al. Influence of cold-water immersion on indices of muscle damage following prolonged intermittent shuttle running. J Sports Sci. 2007 Sep
"The results suggest that cold-water immersion immediately after prolonged intermittent shuttle running reduces some indices of exercise-induced muscle damage."

Sellwood et al. Ice-water immersion and delayed-onset muscle soreness: a randomised controlled trial. Br J Sports Med. 2007 Jun
"The protocol of ice-water immersion used in this study was ineffectual in minimising markers of DOMS in untrained individuals. This study challenges the wide use of this intervention as a recovery strategy by athletes."
Read more: http://evidencebasedfitness.blogspot.com/2007/11/this-entrys-title-is-most-definitely.html

Active Recovery:
SAYERS et al. Activity and immobilization after eccentric exercise: I. Recovery of muscle function. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 2000 Sep
Untrained individuals: Recovery of Maximal isometric force (MIF), and perceived muscle soreness (SOR) were faciliated by light exercise.

Andersson, H., et al. Neuromuscular fatigue and recovery in elite female soccer: Effects of active recovery. Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise. 40(2):372-80, 2008.
Active Recovery showed no benefits in female soccer players. read more: http://evidencebasedfitness.blogspot.com/2008/02/rest-vs-active-recovery.html

Vitamin C:
KAMINSKI, M., AND R. BOAL. An effect of ascorbic acid on delayed-onset muscle soreness. Pain 50:317–321. 199
"Typical soreness abatement scores of 25-44% were observed. A sample size of 19, lack of an untreated control group as well as the singular nature of the exercise and its intensity were considered limitations of the study."

Contrast Showers:
Vaile et al. The effect of contrast water therapy on symptoms of delayed onset muscle soreness. J Strength Cond Res. 2007 Aug
"Contrast water therapy was associated with a smaller reduction, and faster restoration, of strength and power measured by isometric force and jump squat production following DOMS-inducing leg press exercise when compared to PAS. Therefore, CWT seems to be effective in reducing and improving the recovery of functional deficiencies that result from DOMS, as opposed to passive recovery."

Warmup
RODENBURG et al. Warm-up, stretching and massage diminish harmful effects of eccentric exercise. Int. J. Sports Med. 15:414–419. 1994
"This combination of a warm-up, stretching and massage reduces some negative effects of eccentric exercise, but the results are inconsistent, since some parameters were significantly affected by the treatment whereas others were not, despite the expected efficacy of a combination of treatments. The objective measures did not yield more unequivocal results than the subjective DOMS scores."

[JacktheHero]

Other factors that may or may not influence recovery but are generally considered important include:
enough sleep, proper diet and nutrition, recovery enhancing drugs (doping: testosterone, hGH, insuline for instance), cooling down after working out, reducing stress.
You have to decide for yourself whether or not those measures work, I didn't look up any evidence on those.

I guess you know the basic principles of nutrition? Just apply them but don't overdo it, nutrition ain't a silver bullet, it can't do wonders and it doesn't need to be overcomplicated.

[lastmanstanding]

Thanks for the input so far :)

Rahf, what is EAA?

So far it looks as if the following are useful suggestions to me:
-Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and possibly Magnesium can help
-Exercising regularly accustoms your body to exercise and thus reduces DOMS symptoms
-Sleep helps and stress doesnt
-Alternate hot and cold showers can help

2 side questions:

> Does anyone know what actually causes DOMS? As far as i have read, nobody is quite sure.
> What are good sources of antioxidants? (i know Vitamin C is, so citrus fruits would be a good example)

[shengoikee]

i get horrendous DOMS in my left hamstring after i tore it :agony:

hopefully that'll stop some time soon....

it's decreasing whilst i increase my flexibility so i consider that an important factor

edit: icepack, deep heat/bengay and contrast showers not only cure DOMS but also horrific injuries (like broken legs). they're awesome.

[Rahf]

Thanks for the input so far :)

Rahf, what is EAA?

So far it looks as if the following are useful suggestions to me:
-Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and possibly Magnesium can help
-Exercising regularly accustoms your body to exercise and thus reduces DOMS symptoms
-Sleep helps and stress doesnt
-Alternate hot and cold showers can help

2 side questions:

> Does anyone know what actually causes DOMS? As far as i have read, nobody is quite sure.
> What are good sources of antioxidants? (i know Vitamin C is, so citrus fruits would be a good example)

EAA is an abbreviation for essential amino acids.

Fruits and vegetables are good sources for antioxidants.

[Hyourinmaru]

Training consistently can basically eliminate DOMS altogether.

(speaking for lifting...)
eliminating DOMS would be very bad wouldnt it?
i mean.. if DOMS is what i think it is.. then, having them means your body is getting "shocked" from the training, which is a good thing.. at least as far as i've been lead to believe..
so why the hell would you want to get rid of it? O.o

[Rahf]

(speaking for lifting...)
eliminating DOMS would be very bad wouldnt it?
i mean.. if DOMS is what i think it is.. then, having them means your body is getting "shocked" from the training, which is a good thing.. at least as far as i've been lead to believe..
so why the hell would you want to get rid of it? O.o

No, DOMS is not an absolute receipt that you're doing it right. Going without DOMS the days after a workout does not mean it did not "work".

[Hyourinmaru]

No, DOMS is not an absolute receipt that you're doing it right. Going without DOMS the days after a workout does not mean it did not "work".

nono, didnt mean absolute.. i meant, that getting it, means that you are doing something that your muscles hasnt "adjusted" to or gotten used to..
cous, isnt that like, the reason you dont keep doing the same exercises all year round when lifting, like, to get a new exercise for ... muscle group to "attack" it in a different way blablabla.. im sure you know what im talking about..
um, but like to the question of the thread.. i wondered, trying to minimize or remove DOMS, would you really wanna do that..or? sure its annoying if you wanna train hard several days in a row, nomatter what kind of training..
but removing it would be foolish.. your body needs rest, and, if you are getting extreme DOMS means your body isnt used to the kind of training you are doing so, muscles and all need more rest to regain themselves.?
am i wrong here or..?

[Ashtar]

Soreness is an indication you are pushing some kind of limit, but it isn't the soreness that causes improvement, basically.

To think of it another way, if you take every effort to reduce DOMS, then you could push yourself harder before getting sore as you desire, causing more adaptation.

[Rahf]

I switch exercises if the old ones are getting boring.

[petebull]

portease, and essesntial fatty acids helped me recover better- and i really reccomend 5-htp or tryptophan

[Hyourinmaru]

Soreness is an indication you are pushing some kind of limit, but it isn't the soreness that causes improvement, basically.

ok, thanks =)