muscle soreness after running?

Question

I ran twice two weeks ago on consecutives days (most of it down hill) and have been having muscle soreness in my calves and behind my knees ever since. No, I had not run much before those two days and not stretched before. I also have been experimenting with orthodics in my shoes ever since hoping that might cure the problem but could it have made it worse? I want to continue to exercise, actually my muscles hurt less when I keep moving, how should I proceed?

Answer 1

Hi! I'm a certified personal trainer with 10 years experience. I am wondering if you'd been running prior to this? Did you just decide to take up running then do 2 days in a row? Running is a high impact sport. It is best alternated with lower-impact activiities. Whether you were running before or not, it is better to run every OTHER day and let your muscles get some recovery time. Muscles don't get stronger with exercise, they get stronger AFTER exercise, during the recovery period. Rest is essential to muscle growth and fitness advancement. Doing light workouts on the days between allows more blood flow to the overworked muscles and speeds up recovery time. Taking 1000 IU's of vitamin E has also been shown to reduce muscle soreness by repairing muscle oxidation on a cellular level. Running 3 days per week is excellent for cardio fitness, but every day of the week ABOVE 3, increased your chance of injury by 100%. I would recommend talking with a trainer who has a certification from ACE, NASM, ACSM or NSCA. Those are the 4 best certifications out there. There are more than 200 others that are just paper. Let them design you a program. Some trainers will even do some muscle tests on you to find out if you have muscle imbalances or problems. The orthodics might be hurting you, not helping. Please seek professional advice. It could save you some serious injury for a very small price.

Answer 2

You've got a bad case of DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). This is normal after you trying utilizing a muscle or muscles that you haven't used much in the past, particularly when you jump in head first and go all out and over do it, which you definitely did.

The DOMS will get better with time. If you want to keep exercise, decrease how far and fast you run initially. Start out for maybe 10 minutes at first and see if you are sore after that. Slowly start increase your distance and your pace, provided that the pain level remains low.

Also be sure to stretch afterwards.

And I would avoid a lot of downhill running since that is going to over work the anterior tibialis, contributing to your soreness. Start on a flat surface and work into running on hills over time.

Finally make sure you have good running shoes. Don't worry about othotics just yet, unless you have really flat feet. To check to see if you have flat feet at home, see the link below. A good running store should be able to fit you with a shoe that will correct for any structural problems with your feet.

If after a few weeks your pain hasn't improved, then go see a good physical therapist who should be help to correct any problems that you are having.

Answer 3

At present you take some rest and bring them in normal. Then start slow walking and go on increasing speed. Then try jogging and lastly running. All these exercises should be done without any problem, don't haste.

Answer 4

Stretch, stretch and stretch. Try warm bath and stretch again. Are your shoes good for running? If you have shin splints try pointing and flexing your feet.