What causes delayed-onset muscle soreness?

DOMS is thought to result from microscopic damage to muscle fibers and connective tissue, most often from unfamiliar exercise or eccentric (lengthening) muscle contractions, such as the downward phase of a squat or running downhill. The soreness itself is linked to the inflammatory and repair response that follows this damage, though the exact mechanism is not fully settled and is likely more complex than "microtears" alone.

Is it bad to work out again while still sore?

Not usually, as long as the soreness is the dull, diffuse ache typical of DOMS rather than sharp or joint-related pain. Light movement and training the same or different muscle groups is generally fine and may even ease symptoms slightly through increased blood flow. Very sore muscles may perform somewhat worse (reduced strength and range of motion for a day or two), so adjusting intensity is reasonable, but soreness alone is not usually a reason to skip training entirely.

Does stretching prevent or cure muscle soreness?

Research reviews have found stretching, whether before or after exercise, has little to no meaningful effect on preventing or reducing DOMS. It may feel subjectively pleasant, but it should not be relied on as a soreness-prevention strategy.

Oct 21, 2026· By reConnect

DOMS: What Actually Helps Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness

Foam rollers, ice baths, and stretching all get credited with curing post-workout soreness. Here is what the recovery research actually supports.

#doms #exercise-science #foam-rolling #ice-baths #muscle-soreness #recovery #resistance-training

Muscle soreness one or two days after a hard workout is one of the most universal fitness experiences, and it has spawned an entire industry of recovery tools promising to fix it — foam rollers, compression sleeves, ice baths, supplements, massage guns. Some of these help a little. Most of the confident claims made about them outrun the evidence. Here is what delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) actually is, and what recovery research actually supports doing about it.

What DOMS actually is

DOMS is the dull, stiff soreness that typically peaks 24 to 72 hours after unfamiliar or unusually intense exercise, particularly exercise involving eccentric contractions — the lengthening phase of a muscle under load, like lowering into a squat, the downward part of a bicep curl, or running downhill. The leading explanation involves microscopic damage to muscle fibers and connective tissue, followed by an inflammatory response as the body repairs and, over repeated exposure, adapts the tissue to handle similar stress with less damage next time (a phenomenon called the repeated-bout effect).

It is worth being clear about what DOMS is not: it is not the same as lactic acid buildup (a persistent myth — lactate clears from muscle within roughly an hour of finishing exercise, long before soreness sets in), and it is not a reliable indicator of how effective a workout was. Soreness varies enormously by how novel the movement was to your body, not necessarily by how hard you trained relative to your fitness level.

What the recovery research actually supports

Reviews and meta-analyses of common DOMS interventions paint a fairly consistent picture: most popular recovery tools produce small, short-lived effects at best, and several widely believed remedies show little to no effect once tested rigorously.

Light active recovery (easy movement, low-intensity activity using the sore muscles) shows modest evidence for temporarily reducing perceived soreness, likely through increased blood flow, though the effect does not appear to speed the underlying tissue repair.
Massage has some of the more consistent supporting evidence among physical interventions, with several reviews finding small-to-moderate reductions in perceived soreness, particularly when done within a couple of hours after exercise. The muscle-damage markers researchers use in blood tests, however, do not always improve alongside how sore someone reports feeling — suggesting massage may change perception more than it changes underlying tissue repair.
Cold-water immersion (ice baths) has decent evidence for temporarily reducing self-reported soreness in the short term after certain types of high-intensity or high-volume exercise. There is a genuine tension worth knowing about, though: some research suggests that regularly icing after strength training may blunt part of the muscle-building adaptation response over time, likely by dampening the same inflammatory signaling that helps drive muscle growth. For someone training primarily for strength or muscle gain, using ice baths routinely after every session is a tradeoff worth thinking about, not an automatic good idea.
Foam rolling and percussion massage guns have a growing body of small studies showing modest, short-term reductions in perceived soreness and small, temporary improvements in range of motion, generally with effects lasting a few hours to a day. The research quality is mixed, and effect sizes are typically small, but the interventions are low-risk and low-cost enough that trying them is reasonable if they feel helpful.
Static stretching, despite being the most commonly recommended DOMS remedy, has been found in multiple reviews to have little to no meaningful effect on preventing or treating soreness. It may still feel good and support general flexibility goals, but it should not be relied on specifically for soreness relief.
NSAIDs (ibuprofen and similar) have surprisingly inconsistent evidence for relieving DOMS itself — some trials find a modest reduction in soreness, others find little. Their effect on training adaptation is also mixed: one study found maximal over-the-counter doses of ibuprofen taken daily blunted muscle and strength gains in young adults, while other trials found no effect or even slightly greater muscle growth. Occasional use for pain is a reasonable personal choice; regular daily use for soreness is worth discussing with a clinician, both because of that uncertainty and because routine NSAID use carries its own stomach, kidney, and cardiovascular risks for some people.

What actually reduces DOMS the most: time and repetition

The single most reliable way to reduce how sore a given type of exercise makes you is simply doing more of it. The repeated-bout effect — reduced muscle damage and soreness from a familiar exercise after prior exposure to it — is one of the more robust findings in this area. This is part of why programs that gradually introduce new movements and progressively increase training volume tend to produce less crippling soreness than jumping into an unfamiliar, high-intensity routine all at once.

A practical approach

Progress training volume and novel exercises gradually rather than in large jumps, to reduce how severe soreness gets in the first place.
Use light movement, and massage or foam rolling if it feels good, as reasonable, low-risk options for taking the edge off.
Be selective with routine ice baths if your primary goal is muscle or strength adaptation, since habitual use after strength sessions may modestly blunt the training response, and don’t make daily NSAIDs a default recovery habit — occasional use for comfort is a different calculation than a standard post-every-workout routine. Using them when a clinician recommends them for pain management is a separate matter.
Don’t rely on stretching specifically to prevent or fix soreness — it is fine for other reasons, just not proven for this one.
Distinguish DOMS from injury. Diffuse, symmetric soreness that peaks a day or two after training and fades within about a week is typical DOMS. Sharp, localized, or joint-related pain, pain you felt suddenly during the exercise, sudden severe swelling, or soreness that worsens well beyond a week is worth having evaluated by a clinician rather than assumed to be normal training soreness. Seek urgent care if extreme muscle pain, marked swelling, or weakness comes with dark, red, or cola-colored urine or reduced urination — these can be signs of rhabdomyolysis, a rare but serious complication of very strenuous exercise.

The honest takeaway

Delayed-onset muscle soreness is a normal, largely harmless response to unfamiliar or intense training, and it fades on its own within about a week regardless of what you do. Most recovery tools marketed to “cure” it produce small, short-lived improvements in how sore you feel rather than dramatic fixes, and routine ice baths may carry a real tradeoff against strength-training adaptation, while the evidence on NSAIDs is more mixed than often claimed. The most dependable lever is simply repeated, gradually progressed exposure to the movements causing the soreness in the first place.

References

NSAID effects on post-exercise soreness and strength/hypertrophy adaptation are mixed rather than consistently positive or negative — some trials find maximal over-the-counter doses blunt gains, others find no effect or greater growth. Sports Medicine – Open. Springer
Mallinson, J. E., et al. Ibuprofen and its effect on muscle protein synthesis and hypertrophy after resistance exercise. The Journal of Physiology. Wiley
Rhabdomyolysis: dark, red, or cola-colored urine, severe muscle pain or swelling, and reduced urination are red-flag symptoms requiring urgent care. MedlinePlus