Are you a holiday athlete? Is it normal to feel sore all over after exercise?

To live you have to move, but too much or too intense exercise is not a good thing! Are you also a "holiday athlete" who stays glued to your office chair during the weekdays but exercises like crazy on weekends to make up for the amount of exercise? Doctors remind us that "overexercise" by moving too much at once is not only unhealthy for the body, but it may also cause sports injuries to the upper body, causing muscle damage and body aches and pains!

Love being a "holiday athlete"? Be careful not to over-exercise and exceed your body's capacity

Luo Yongwu, the attending physician of the South Korean national team, mentioned in his book "The Complete Book of Pain Massage and Stretching" that although "not exercising" is harmful to health, "excessive exercise" is also not good for health. Exercise is a good habit that can bring us health and body shape, but if the concept is wrong, exercise will damage the body instead.

He cited his own outpatient experience as an example. 35-year-old Mr. Park came for treatment due to leg muscle pain. The patient participated in the company's sports meeting and began to feel pain in his legs after the football game. There was nothing wrong on the day of the sports meet, but I woke up the next day with severe pain. Mr. Park has no exercise habits on weekdays due to his work style and frequent business trips. In this sports meeting, he relied on his youth and strength to push his body beyond the expected load.

Dr. Luo Yongwu pointed out that if a person does not exercise on a daily basis but suddenly makes his muscles move a lot, like in the case mentioned above, muscle pain will occur, which is also called delayed muscle soreness. Most people take this pain for granted, but it is not. Muscles contract during exercise, and muscle contraction is divided into concentric contraction and eccentric contraction.

When we lift the dumbbells and then gently put them down, the contraction of the biceps is an eccentric contraction.

For example: When we lift dumbbells and then gently put them down, the contraction of the biceps is eccentric contraction. Although almost all exercises involve concentric and eccentric contractions, delayed onset muscle soreness is more likely to occur when the muscles are subjected to repeated eccentric contractions (such as running downhill or lifting dumbbells).

Soreness 24 hours after exercise indicates muscle damage

Dr. Luo Yongwu emphasized that delayed onset muscle soreness is not simply pain, but muscle damage, and usually occurs 24 to 48 hours after exercise. Some people believe that delayed onset muscle soreness is caused by the accumulation of fatigue substance lactic acid, so continuing to exercise can quickly eliminate the lactic acid and help eliminate the pain; but in fact this is wrong, doing so will cause more serious damage to the muscles.

The correct approach should be to have a good rest and perform light muscle massage or physical therapy. Because sudden and excessive exercise will not only damage muscles, but may also harm ligaments, tendons, joints and other parts, so it must not be taken lightly.

Endorphin effect! Exercise addiction can easily make people ignore the fact that their body is injured

In addition, there is the so-called "exercise addiction", which is also a common sports injury. For example, the term "runner's high" refers to the feeling of pleasure one gets after a long workout, such as a marathon.

Not only is there something in the human body called endorphins that produces this runner's high and gives us that brief feeling of well-being, but endorphins can also relieve pain.

Not only is there something in the human body called endorphins that produces this runner's high and that brief feeling of well-being, but endorphins also relieve pain so the body doesn't know it's been injured and can keep moving. The damaged tissue will only feel pain after the exercise is over, which is also a type of delayed muscle soreness.

The duration, intensity, and frequency of exercise should be increased gradually.

To avoid the above situation, Dr. Luo Yongwu recommends that people who do not normally exercise but suddenly want to start exercising can start with simple stretching or walking, and the time should be short and slow; then engage in light jogging on the second day, and fast running on the third day. Increase your activity slowly to prevent injury and pain.

The same goes for weight training. For example, lift dumbbells 5 times on the first day, 6 times on the second day... and so on, gradually increasing the amount of exercise. When exercising, slowly increase the time, intensity, and number of times to avoid injury.

People with exercise addiction always wait until the pain becomes very severe before they stop. By then, the injury is usually already very serious and requires longer time to treat. If you have such a problem, it is recommended to receive treatment at the same time to minimize injury and pain.