Best Natural Remedies for Sore Muscles

You can experience soreness in your muscles for any number of reasons. Maybe you had a grueling workout at the gym. Maybe you spent the day outside doing yard work. Or maybe you just slept wrong. 

The activity that caused the soreness doesn’t matter as much as managing the pain that comes along with muscle soreness. Because, when your body is sore, it makes completing your regular routine more difficult. So let’s look into some effective natural remedies for sore muscles.

What causes muscles to become sore?

Before we talk about relieving soreness, let’s first look at what causes soreness in our muscles. Obviously, when you work out or strain your muscles in some other manner, you get soreness. And usually, that soreness doesn’t begin immediately—unless you pull a muscle. The soreness that follows strenuous work has a name: delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). 

You typically experience DOMS when you increase the intensity of an exercise, or when you do strenuous work for longer than usual. In simple terms, when you push your muscles beyond their comfort level, you end up with soreness. But soreness isn’t always a bad thing.

That soreness you feel comes from the microscopic damage you do to your muscle fibers when you stress them. These tiny muscle fibers heal stronger, which is how you gain strength. But, unfortunately, the process of micro-damaging and healing muscles can be painful. 

Natural remedies for muscle soreness

Warmup and cool down the right way

If your muscle soreness tends to follow your workouts, then try adding in some warmup exercises and dynamic stretching. These can be combined. In fact, many dynamic stretches—active movements using your full range of motion—will warm up your muscles and get you ready for more strenuous exercises. 

Following your workout, try some cool-down exercises like walking, jogging, or hitting the stationary bike. You only need 5 to 15 minutes of cool-down work to get the benefits. These exercises will bring your heart rate down to a normal level and help flush the lactic acid that has built up in your muscles. 

During and immediately after exercising

Drink water. While you’re working out, stay hydrated. When you’re dehydrated, you're prone to cramping, pulling muscles, and a host of other negative side effects. Water helps your body perform its everyday functions, which includes flushing lactic acid from your muscles. 

There is also evidence that drinking juices like cherry and pineapple can help due to their anti-inflammatory properties.

Immediately after your exercise, treat your muscles to some heat. Hot towels or even a warm epsom salt bath can help to cut down the amount of soreness you’ll experience over the hours of DOMS, which is usually between 24 and 72 hours after the workout. 

Any time after exercising

Massage therapy is a highly effective way to treat muscle soreness. If you’re not able to get onto a massage table and under some healing hands, then you can use a foam roller to self-massage your legs, hips, glutes, and back. 

If your hands and feet are sore, you can massage them by hand. It feels great! Give it a try! Or you can massage the bottoms of your feet by rolling them over a tennis or lacrosse ball. 

If you are able to see a massage therapist, then there are a few types of massage techniques we recommend specifically for muscle soreness. 

• Sports massage: You don’t have to be an athlete to get a sports massage. Our sports massage uses a variety of techniques to help prepare your body for strenuous activities or to help heal your body after such events. This massage increases flexibility, which reduces the likelihood of injury, and it helps to relieve soreness, tightness, and even anxiety. 

• Hot stone massage: This technique uses heated smooth stones that are lubricated with massage oil or essential oils. The massage therapist uses stones to massage your sore muscles. It’s incredibly relaxing.

• Cupping: This type of massage is used to help with pain and inflammation. The massage therapist uses specially designed cups to create suction on your skin. The cups are left on for a few minutes. 

• Trigger point therapy: This technique is all about releasing tension. If you have cramped or overused muscles, then you’ll love trigger point therapy!

• Full body stretch: Ok, so this isn’t a massage. But it will help relieve soreness and stiffness and promote range of motion. It’s particularly effective for those recovering from injuries. 

There are so many natural ways to manage pain from muscle soreness. Try a few and see what works for you. And if you want to give massage a try, check out more of our services or book an appointment online. We will help you find a treatment plan to achieve your health goals!