I’m regularly asked by my patients and friends “why am I sore all the time?”. Below are some of the most common reasons and how to improve them.
1. Lack of sleep. Healing and rebuilding muscle tissue occurs in large part while you sleep. As adults, we need on average about 7-9 hours of sleep per night to allow for the proper secretion of hormones to repair our bodies.
2. Deficiency of nutrients. Nutrient deficiencies are akin to trying to drive a car without gas. Common nutrients that lead to soreness when deficient include calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron and B vitamins. To help prevent this I recommend eating more foods rich in minerals (green vegetables for example)and supplementing with whole food supplements when necessary.
3. Inflammatory foods. Inflammation causes pain and sadly much of what Americans consume most regularly is very inflammatory to their bodies. Foods that are processed, packaged, high in sugar or contain trans fats are examples of this. Eating more whole foods, fruits, vegetables and foods rich in omega 3 fatty acids is a great way to fight inflammation. Supplementing with fish oil or flax seed oils is also helpful.
4. Adrenal fatigue. Your adrenal glands (stress glands) produce over 50 hormones that help your body handle stress, both physical and mental. Continued adrenal fatigue depletes B vitamins that fuel your nerves leading to prolonged muscle soreness. Reducing caffeine and processed sugar intake as well as managing your mental stress better are great ways to reduce adrenal fatigue and help your muscles recover easier.
5. Over-training. Intense exercise naturally causes soreness. However, if you are training without proper rest you may find that you are sore even while you exercise. This often indicates that you’re training too much and that your muscles aren’t adequately recovering. I have been guilty of this with my training and I’ve found the best way to fight it is to regularly alter the intensity, frequency and amount of exercise that you do.
6. Under-training. The body gets sore in response to stress being applied to the body. If you don’t exercise regularly, the chances are high that you are out of shape and thus anytime you do physical activity you will get sore. Regularly exercising helps your body adapt to physical stress more effectively and as your muscles develop better strength and endurance you will get sore less frequently.
7. Spinal involvement. As a chiropractor I see this on a daily basis. Your spine consists of movable vertebrae that protect your spinal cord as well as the nerve roots that leave from the spinal cord to power the different parts of your body including muscles. If your spine loses its proper alignment (from poor posture, too much sitting, too long staring into a computer screen, falls, sports, etc) than the nerves will become irritated and lose some of their power going into the muscles. Re-aligning the spine removes this interference which leads to greater nerve supply to your muscles and therefore less muscle soreness.
Dr. Kenney has won multiple awards for “Best Chiropractor” and specializes in motivating and helping patients achieve their goals of better health and pain relief. For more information please browse our site, find us on Facebook or call (303) 347-9906.