How do you remove the stiffness?

You have already started to train hard, but your body was probably not prepared for the overexertion. That is why on this occasion I want to develop a much talked about and frequently used topic in the sports world, stiffness. In this way, we intend to solve each and every one of the doubts that may be present in this subject.

We will see different aspects such as:

• What are they and what are their main symptoms?
• Why and when do they occur?
• How to carry out an adequate prevention of them.
• And the treatment to remove them.

We hope you enjoy it, enjoy it and learn as much as possible, because that is our goal, to obtain a good sports culture. We begin...

What is stiffness and what are its main symptoms?

Stiffness consists of muscular pains that appear in the hours following physical exercise or physical activity and develop due to micro-tears in the muscle fibers of the affected muscle. This muscle pain is caused by issues that we will see later.

In addition, this phenomenon , depending on the moment of our season and if it is properly planned, is a totally normal symptom of the effort (training) that has been made. It can also be the opposite, and if this happens we must readjust our planning so that our athlete assimilates again properly the proposed training.

The symptoms that occur when we have stiffness are generally:

• Muscle pain and stiffness.
• Muscle weakness and fatigue (and consequent loss of strength).

Another point that we find interesting is that we must differentiate between stiffness and a possible injury; the way to differentiate it at a general level is that stiffness appears after performing the physical activity and the injury occurs during the physical effort.

Why and when do they occur?

As we have already mentioned, they may be "planned" at some point during the season in order to subsequently achieve the corresponding overcompensation.

Stiffness is due to aspects such as:

• Micro-tears in the muscles that have been worked in the physical activity performed.
• Inadequate planning, which will reduce our sports performance.

We have to differentiate them from the injury, therefore, we know that the stiffness occurs after physical activity, while the vast majority of injuries, obviously, happen during the training proposed by our physical trainer or coach.

How to properly prevent stiffness?

Stiffness is also part of the adaptation of our body, so a good prevention is to perform the corresponding physical activity progressively (principle of progression). Therefore, a correct warm-up is a priority in order to avoid stiffness afterwards.

In addition, the athlete should avoid intense workouts if they are not assimilated by him and not practiced regularly.

For all these reasons, at RUNNEA we recommend that the preparation of your desired goals is carried out by hiring a good professional (physical trainer).

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Treatment to remove stiffness

There are different problems; one of them is that there is no specific treatment to heal or cure these stiffnesses, but we do have different aspects to take into account that reduce the discomfort and its duration. These points are:

• First of all, performing an active rest is essential for the stiffness to disappear in a shorter time. Active rest consists of performing regenerative training so that the muscles can recover from a hard workout and adequately overcome possible stiffness and thus recover damaged muscle tissues.
• Another interesting point that we can apply and there are no major studies, is cryotherapy which consists in the application of cold on the skin (we will develop an article about it), which makes an effective and controlled destruction of tissues, in addition to lowering a possible inflammation.
• We do not want to forget aspects related to invisible training: hydration should be before, during and after and food should be varied and balanced, always through the advice and recommendations of a professional such as your nutritional advisor.

On the other hand, to solve this problem of stiffness we can go to a physiotherapist and osteopath of confidence. This way, we will not make a mistake in the diagnosis and we will carry out the appropriate treatment (for example, unloading massage, electro stimulation, ...) so that the stiffness disappears as soon as possible.

Conclusions

Finally, we hope from RUNNEA that you have enjoyed this article and that it has been useful to solve each and every one of your doubts on this subject. As a main point we want to make it very clear that the ideal is to make a good and individualized planning of your workouts in order to achieve your goals; and that can only be achieved by hiring a physical trainer. In this way, we will avoid not only unwanted stiffness but also prevent injuries, and sooner rather than later we will enjoy our sports practice throughout the session, season or sporting life.

What if you dare to try training with us? You will have a personalized coach, personalized training for your goals, we can also plan your diet. And also an academy with videos, masterclass, articles and forum to share your day to day.

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