What Helps Sore Muscles? A Pharmacist Explains 7 Ways to Soothe Aches & Muscle Soreness
By Dr. Jasmine Miles, PharmD | Co-Founder, The Healthcare Formula
Whether it hits the morning after a tough workout, after spending hours on your feet, or simply after a long day, muscle soreness can make your entire body feel like it needs a reset.
And while reaching for something to soothe those tired areas may be your first thought, understanding why your muscles are sore can help you choose the right approach.
As a pharmacist, I believe taking care of your body should start with understanding it. Here are seven practical ways to care for tired, achy muscles and support your body's recovery routine.
Why Do Muscles Get Sore?
Muscle soreness can happen for several reasons. Exercise is one of the most common—especially when you introduce a new movement, increase the intensity of a workout, or use muscles differently than they're accustomed to.
But you don't have to be an athlete to experience an achy body.
Long workdays, repetitive movements, prolonged standing, travel and everyday physical activity can all leave your body feeling tired or uncomfortable.
That's why muscle care isn't just for gym days. It can be part of your everyday self-care routine.
1. Give Your Body Time to Recover
Sometimes your body is simply asking for rest.
Recovery gives your muscles time to adapt after strenuous activity. That doesn't necessarily mean spending the entire day on the couch. Depending on the cause and severity of your soreness, gentle movement may feel better than remaining completely inactive.
Most importantly, pay attention to what your body is telling you.
2. Try Gentle Movement and Stretching
Light movement can be a simple addition to your recovery routine.
Walking, gentle stretching and mobility exercises can help keep your body moving without immediately jumping back into another strenuous workout.
Think recovery—not another workout disguised as recovery.
3. Use Heat or Cold When Appropriate
Hot and cold therapies are commonly used for different types of muscle discomfort.
A warm shower, heating pad or warm compress may feel soothing for stiff, tired muscles, while cold therapy is often used following certain acute injuries or strenuous activity.
The appropriate option depends on what is causing your discomfort, so persistent or significant pain shouldn't simply be treated as ordinary muscle soreness.
4. Don't Forget Hydration
Hydration plays an important role in normal body and muscle function.
If you're exercising, spending significant time outdoors, or sweating heavily, paying attention to your fluid intake becomes even more important.
Your recovery routine shouldn't begin only after your workout ends. Taking care of your body throughout the day matters too.
5. Massage Tired Areas
There's a reason massage feels so good after a long day.
Gentle self-massage can be incorporated into a body-care routine when your muscles feel tired or sore. It also gives you an opportunity to slow down and pay attention to areas you may have been ignoring.
Pairing massage with a topical body product can make the experience even more enjoyable.
6. Consider a Botanical Topical for Your Body-Care Routine
Topical salves are popular because they can be applied directly to the area you're trying to care for.
Ingredients such as arnica and calendula are commonly found in botanical body-care formulations, while cannabinoid ingredients such as CBD and CBG have increasingly appeared in topical wellness products.
This is also where formulation matters.
At The Healthcare Formula, we created our Body Soother Salve as a pharmacist-formulated topical that fits easily into an everyday body-care and post-workout routine.
Our vegan formula combines CBD, CBG, arnica, calendula, jojoba oil, sunflower seed oil, MCT oil and vitamin E in a salve that melts into the skin and can be massaged into areas that need a little extra attention.
[Shop the Body Soother Salve → https://www.thehealthcareformula.com/]
7. Know When Soreness Isn't Just Soreness
Not every ache should be treated like normal post-workout soreness.
Pain that is severe, unexplained, persistent, associated with significant swelling or weakness, follows a serious injury, or is accompanied by other concerning symptoms deserves appropriate medical evaluation.
Listening to your body also means knowing when something doesn't feel normal.
Your Body Works Hard. Take Care of It.
Recovery doesn't have to be complicated.
Rest. Move. Hydrate. Stretch. Massage. And build a body-care routine that makes taking care of yourself something you actually look forward to doing.
Because your body does a lot for you.
Return the favor.
Ready to add a pharmacist-formulated botanical topical to your routine?
Shop the Body Soother Salve
This content is for general educational purposes and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or medical condition.
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