Top 10 Ways to Get Rid of Sore Muscles

Spending some time cooling down makes your muscles recovery-ready. A 2018 study on active recovery found that runners who spent time at a 50 percent decrease in activity at the end of their workout (instead of resting completely) were able to go three times longer the second time they ran. The researchers believe it had to do with better blood flow, which reduced blood lactate (the metabolic byproduct that makes your muscles sore).

“So many products that are sold touting the ability to flush from the blood or remove waste products from the muscles, but the way you actually do that is through circulation, or your blood moving,” says Christie Aschwanden, author of GOOD TO GO: What the Athlete in All of Us Can Learn from the Strange Science of Recovery and co-host of the Emerging Form podcast.

Tart cherry juice is loaded with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds. A 2020 study found that long distance runners who drank tart cherry juice for eight days reported decreased muscle pain.

“The anti-inflammatory properties in cherries may be beneficial in decreasing muscle soreness. However, particularly in the case of tart cherry extract, one should be aware of the significant sugar content that could be present,” says Hogrefe.

It may seem obvious, but massages can help get rid of sore muscles. There’s a little research—a 2012 study found that a post-exercise massage significantly reduces pain by reducing the release of cytokines, compounds that cause inflammation in the body. At the same time, massage stimulated mitochondria in cells, promoting cell function and repair.

Yet, there’s not a huge volume of additional research. “If there’s one recovery technique that is most popular among athletes, it’s massage,” Aschwanden says. “The scientific evidence for whether it works or is doing something meaningful from a physiological perspective is pretty slim. But what makes massage really helpful is that it feels good and is a way of setting aside some time to relax and check in with your body and how you’re feeling during a little downtime.”

You may have long heard that an ice bath is the best way to recover from a long run, but experts say to skip cold therapy and opt for something warm and comforting.”The idea behind heating pads is that they increase blood flow because it is a vasodilator (opens up your blood vessels), and is thought that it could help flush some of the byproducts or inflammation related to muscle soreness out of the muscles,” says Katie Lawton, an exercise physiologist in Rehabilitation and Sports Therapy at the Cleveland Clinic.

“Heating pads can feel good, which can be helpful for recovery, because oftentimes what you need for recovery is just time to relax,” Aschwanden adds. “Heat also increases circulation, so that can be helpful to reach those areas where you do have waste products [to flush out].”

Foam rolling on sore muscles can make grown men cry, but it seriously helps repair your muscles. “It has been suggested that foam rolling may decrease edema [swelling in the muscles] and enhance tissue healing,” says Hogrefe.

A 2021 study found that 20 minutes of foam rolling on a high-density foam roller immediately following exercise and 24 hours after may reduce muscle tenderness and decrease the impact on one’s dynamic movements. Don’t have one? Check out our best foam roller picks.