My girlfriend says that football rules my life, I am inclined to agree with her.
The amount of football that I play tends to increase on a weekly basis, I play in the 1st team for a Sunday League team (obviously on Sundays) and I train with them on Tuesdays. I then train with the 2nd’s on the Wednesday, who my best mate plays for. I also tend to play five-a-side at 9pm on a Sunday also, in total I probably play about 5-6 hours of football a week. I also tend to watch football when its on TV.
I tend to really ache throughout the week, my legs especially. This is down to what’s known as D.O.M.S (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness), something that I have actually taken with me from my A-Level in P.E. D.O.M.S tends to be less painful than a muscle pull, more like a dull ache, it is typically caused by muscle fibres tearing after extensive exercise and lasts anywhere from 2-7
days.
For me, because I play so much, I am interested in getting rid of these aches and pains and playing football ache free. The recommended actions are as follows:
- Wait. Soreness will go away in 3 to 7 days with no special treatment.
- Avoid any vigorous activity that increases pain.
- Do some easy low-impact aerobic exercise - this will increase blood flow to the affected muscles, which may help diminish soreness.
- Use gentle stretching on the affected area
- Gently massage the affected muscles
- Don’t forget to stretch and warm up before your targeted activity.
Source: About.com
I have also been recommended to take an ice (or cold) bath to help flush out the lactic acid. Doing some cardiovascular exercises using the affected areas can also stimulate blood flow and help remove lactic acid. This is somewhat removed from the muscular soreness (i.e. the tearing of the muscle fibres) but in my case I think is contributing to my overall sluggishness when initially playing.
[tags]DOMS, tired, sport, fitness[/tags]
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