The Secret to Feeling Less Sore

My patients are incredible, and I low key brag to my neighbours about how cool you all are. And many of you do really cool stuff with your bodies (it's probably why you come to see me).

One such patient is training for a 4 week hike (I’m sooo jealous) and described her legs as feeling like they were used, heavy, tired, sore. We did some wiggling, and at the end of the treatment I got the inevitable question; What can I do at home? 

So, I gave her a quick suggestion to support her recovery during training. As the smart and curious woman that she is, she asked why it helps, and why she hasn’t heard of it before. 

So let’s answer all those questions!

Signs of a slow recovery

First off, what might you feel if your recovery is not super amazing?

• Feeling heavy, stiff, or sore muscles for longer than *your* normal

• Low energy or fatigue throughout the day

• Mood changes

• Increased injuries

• Not feeling refreshed after your rest day

• *Your* easy workouts feel hard, either emotionally or physically.

To address this we can do 2 things, 1) reduce how much you are training (I expect none of my patients will see this as an actual option). Or 2) improve your recovery. 

I’m going to be coming at this from an osteopathic perspective. I’m not a dietician, nor a physiotherapist. I’m *ONLY* going to be looking at this from a circulation point. Making sure you are approaching your recovery from a holistic view is going to make your recovery even better. 

My key advice to my patient was do rotational, or circular dynamic stretches. 

That’s it. 

Ok now we get to talk about why. The nerdy physiological stuff. 

My interpretation of what exists in the interstitial fluid, the space between cells. There are capillaries, veins, and lymph vessels. As well as collagen fibers, elastic fibers, and reticular fibers. There are also a number of cells, mast cells, macrophages, fibrobasts, lymphocytes, neutrophils, and adipose cells.

The nerdy life (anatomy of sore muscles)

When we use our muscles (or really any tissue) there is a whole bunch of cellular activity. This activity helps make our muscles contract, but it also creates waste. And that waste needs to be removed. 

If it's not removed, your muscles and joints are going to be sooore, achey, and stiff. 

So who removes the cellular waste? Primarily our veins, with a little bit of help from our lymph system. 

What’s the difference between the venous and lymphatic systems? I hear you itching to ask. 

Both drain the interstitial fluid (this is a fluid that surrounds our cells), and both are important. A few differences between venous drainage and lymphatic drainage are:

• Veins carry the spent (deoxygenated) red blood cells, and other blood cells 

• Lymph helps circulate immune cells.

• Veins can drain little molecules from the interstitial fluid

• Lymph can drain big molecules (protein + fat) from the interstitial fluid

• Veins drain 90% of the fluid.

• Lymph drains the final 10% of the fluid

• BUUTTT, they both travel together in the body! So if you find a vein, a lymph vessel is probably close by. 

But why do circular or rotational movements help recovery? Each muscle, and each muscle cell, can act as a little pump. And when we do rotational movement, there is a little bit of contraction, and a little bit of release, this helps engage this pumping mechanism. These little pumps that we have all over our body help pump the venous and lymphatic fluid back to the heart, and back the lungs. 

When we skip a full cool down, we run the risk of extra soreness, poor recovery, and over time decreased performance. And a good cool down is soooo easy, and honestly feels so good. 

Try it at home

If you notice that you are particularly sore, stiff, or heavy after training here are some gentle movements that you can add to your cool down, or recovery day practice. Add 1 or all of them, let's find what makes you feel good. 

•  Windshield wipers

• windshield wipers with leg swings (chefs kiss!)

• The clock spinal twist

• Great for the diaphragm and the arms

• Knocking on heaven’s door (standing torso twists)

• Diaphragmatic breathing 

• Door way chest stretch with gentle rotations

• Heel rocks or standing bounces

These are just a few, my absolute favourite addition to a regular cool down or recovery day practice is to just get on my mat and move in ways that feel right. Some days that might be heel rocks, another day it might be modified Windshield Wipers. It's a great practice to just move. 

Pushing through, and skipping active recovery is definitely the fastest way to sabotage your work, and get you injured. This article is here to encourage you to add circulation-friendly movements to your cool down or recovery day practice. (And if you want to go deeper, I’ve got another piece on injury prevention — hint: it’s all about warming up and cooling down properly.)

I love hearing when patients put some of these little tips into practice, and seeing the results. The results usually mean you see me less, but I can handle that if it means you’re pain free and doing what you love. 

Recovery doesn’t need to be overwhelming. Just a tiny addition to your already immaculate training routine.

Be gentle with yourself.

Have questions about your muscles or training recovery?

Shoot me an email or book an appointment!