Muscle Aches

Muscle Aches
and Pains

Soothe Next-Day Soreness

Every January 2, health clubs are jammed with women resolved to get back in shape once and for all--or lose their holiday weight gain. And every January 3, millions of women wake up with sore muscles.

New exercise recruits are not the only ones who experience muscle pain. The same thing can happen when you clean out your flower beds in spring or finally get around to washing the windows.

According to women doctors, overuse--doing too much too fast--is the most common cause of simple muscle aches and pains.

After not using your muscles for months or years, suddenly forcing them all to jerk into high gear may well inspire rebellion from tiny tears that develop within the muscle tissues. You can't see them, but you sure can feel them.

"You'll feel achy and sore," says Debra Zillmer, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon and medical director of the Gundersen Lutheran Sports Medicine Clinic in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

HELP YOUR MUSCLES HEAL

Whether it's your first sore muscle or an achiness that you've felt before, relax. The pain isn't permanent, and it probably won't last long. Meanwhile, women doctors offer these suggestions to help ease the pain more quickly.

Take a 24-hour sabbatical. "The very first step to heal an overuse injury is to rest the muscles that are hurting," says Margot Putukian, M.D., team physician at Pennsylvania State University in University Park and assistant professor of orthopedic surgery and internal medicine at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey. Give your muscles a 24- hour layoff after they start to ache, she says.

Ice it. To speed the healing process, Dr. Zillmer advises using ice. It reduces swelling and soreness, slows bleeding from tears and soothes bruises.

Place a wrapped ice pack or even a bag of frozen vegetables on your aching muscles for up to 20 minutes out of every hour until the pain subsides, says Dr. Putukian. (Don't eat the vegetables.)

Distract yourself. Sitting around whining about how much you hurt will only make aches worse. So do something to get your mind off the hurt. "Watch the dog dig up a bone, listen to a relaxation tape or soothing music or do anything that lifts your spirits," says Kathleen Lewis, R.N., a nurse in Decatur, Georgia, and author of Successful Living with Chronic Illness.

"Studies have shown that when you focus on the pain, your muscles actually tense up more," she says.

Shake a leg. Don't run out and exercise when your muscles hurt, but when the discomfort eases, get out there and play to your level of fitness. Your body will tell you how much to do or not do, says Lewis.

"If you use your muscles every day, they're likely to be more limber and a lot less prone to the strains and pains of overuse," she says. Try low-impact aerobic exercise--exercise that gets your heart pumping--such as walking or swimming for half an hour at least three times a week.

For repeat aches, try heat. "Women with chronic muscle pain often do better with heat than with cold, because it increases circulation and muscle flexibility," says Dr. Zillmer. Try a heating pad, a warm bath or even just a warm towel on the affected area for no more than 20 minutes at a time.