is DOMS similar to whiplash?

[rubthebuddha]

as a pretty regular patron of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), and as someone who's suffering some neck pain from not having his guard consistently up last night in sparring, i noticed a couple similarities between DOMS and whiplash (no, i don't have it -- just a sore neck) and wondered if it's just coincidence, or if it's something deeper.

the delay in each is what made me think of it. everytime i do a leg workout, the next day i'm ok, but day two, my hamstrings are quite unhappy with me. similarly, whiplash you may not feel for a day or so, but it can surface in a nasty way a couple days after an accident.

any thoughts? :confused:

[ewallace]

Good question. I was doing barbell push jerks yesterday morning and my tri's kind of gave out on the way down. The bar came down on my neck pretty hard. It sucked, and I have had a stiff neck for about 24 hrs now. I think I might have strained on another exercise after that as well.

[PLCrane]

Getting hit in the head is not much different from whiplash. There's a sudden acceleration, your muscles get stretched and contract in response to the stretch, your neck joints get rattled, and your brain smacks into your skull. Don't do that a lot of times; it's bad for you.

DOMS can result from a lot of eccentric contractions (contracting a muscle while stretching it), so this might be a source of some of the symptoms in whiplash.


PLC

[Ford Prefect]

Nobody really knows for sure what causes DOMS. Some people say it's microtrauma to the tendons and muscle itself from the previous workout. Some people say it's from toxins being trapped in the muscle like lactic acid. There is nothing really conclusive either way.

One thing that one must keep in mind is that flushing methods like alternating hot-cold showers, low intensity jogging, calesthenics, etc reduce muscle soreness and aide in recovery. This leads most to believe that the culprit is more lactic acid and other toxins than microtrauma.

I'd think whiplash is more of a physical injury than something like built up toxins. Dunno much about it though.

[PLCrane]

Yeah, whiplash would involve injury to the soft tissues. Here are a couple of abstracts from review articles. They don't provide a conclusive answer, but I think there's some useful information here.

Sports Med. 2003;33(2):145-64. Related Articles, Links

Delayed onset muscle soreness : treatment strategies and performance factors.

Cheung K, Hume P, Maxwell L.

School of Community Health and Sports Studies, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.

Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is a familiar experience for the elite or novice athlete. Symptoms can range from muscle tenderness to severe debilitating pain. The mechanisms, treatment strategies, and impact on athletic performance remain uncertain, despite the high incidence of DOMS. DOMS is most prevalent at the beginning of the sporting season when athletes are returning to training following a period of reduced activity. DOMS is also common when athletes are first introduced to certain types of activities regardless of the time of year. Eccentric activities induce micro-injury at a greater frequency and severity than other types of muscle actions. The intensity and duration of exercise are also important factors in DOMS onset. Up to six hypothesised theories have been proposed for the mechanism of DOMS, namely: lactic acid, muscle spasm, connective tissue damage, muscle damage, inflammation and the enzyme efflux theories. However, an integration of two or more theories is likely to explain muscle soreness. DOMS can affect athletic performance by causing a reduction in joint range of motion, shock attenuation and peak torque. Alterations in muscle sequencing and recruitment patterns may also occur, causing unaccustomed stress to be placed on muscle ligaments and tendons. These compensatory mechanisms may increase the risk of further injury if a premature return to sport is attempted.A number of treatment strategies have been introduced to help alleviate the severity of DOMS and to restore the maximal function of the muscles as rapidly as possible. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs have demonstrated dosage-dependent effects that may also be influenced by the time of administration. Similarly, massage has shown varying results that may be attributed to the time of massage application and the type of massage technique used. Cryotherapy, stretching, homeopathy, ultrasound and electrical current modalities have demonstrated no effect on the alleviation of muscle soreness or other DOMS symptoms. Exercise is the most effective means of alleviating pain during DOMS, however the analgesic effect is also temporary. Athletes who must train on a daily basis should be encouraged to reduce the intensity and duration of exercise for 1-2 days following intense DOMS-inducing exercise. Alternatively, exercises targeting less affected body parts should be encouraged in order to allow the most affected muscle groups to recover. Eccentric exercises or novel activities should be introduced progressively over a period of 1 or 2 weeks at the beginning of, or during, the sporting season in order to reduce the level of physical impairment and/or training disruption. There are still many unanswered questions relating to DOMS, and many potential areas for future research.

PMID: 12617692 [PubMed - in process]

J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 1994 Sep;34(3):203-16. Related Articles, Links

Exercise-induced muscle pain, soreness, and cramps.

Miles MP, Clarkson PM.

Department of Exercise Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

The three types of pain related to exercise are 1) pain experienced during or immediately following exercise, 2) delayed onset muscle soreness, and 3) pain induced by muscle cramps. Each is characterized by a different time course and different etiology. Pain perceived during exercise is considered to result from a combination of factors including acids, ions, proteins, and hormones. Although it is commonly believed that lactic acid is responsible for this pain, evidence suggests that it is not the only factor. However, no single factor has ever been identified. Delayed onset muscle soreness develops 24-48 hours after strenuous exercise biased toward eccentric (muscle lengthening) muscle actions or strenuous endurance events like a marathon. Soreness is accompanied by a prolonged strength loss, a reduced range of motion, and elevated levels of creatine kinase in the blood. These are taken as indirect indicators of muscle damage, and biopsy analysis has documented damage to the contractile elements. The exact cause of the soreness response is not known but thought to involve an inflammatory reaction to the damage. Muscle cramps are sudden, intense, electrically active contractions elicited by motor neuron hyperexcitability. Although it is commonly assumed that cramps during exercise are the result of fluid electrolyte imbalance induced by sweating, two studies have not supported this. Moreover, participants in occupations that require chronic use of a muscle but do not elicit profuse sweating, such as musicians, often experience cramps. Fluid electrolyte imbalance may cause cramps if there is profuse prolonged sweating such as that found in working in a hot environment. Thus, despite the common occurrence of pain associated with exercise, the exact cause of these pains remains a mystery.

Publication Types:

* Review
* Review, Tutorial


PMID: 7830383 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]