What is happening is that when the muscles are taxed by heavy activity, the muscle tissue begins to break down, releasing lactic acid. Your body immediately begins to repair the muscle, with a little bit of extra fortification so that it will be strong enough to do the task at hand. The lactic acid is irritating to the tissues, and until it works its way out, soreness remains.
Professional dancers have an arsenal of go-to remedies for muscle soreness which happens frequently. Think 8 hours of dancing followed by a performance that night, or for entertainment dancers, warm-up, followed by 4 -5 shows per day in the heat on an outdoor stage. Let's peek into the Pro dance bag:
Arnica Pellets - Arnica Montana is a Native American healing plant that produces near miraculous results. The settlers were amazed at how resilient native warriors were, seemingly overcoming in a day what would normally take weeks. Arnica was the secret ingredient. The key to it's effectiveness is that it encourages the body to re-absorb pooled fluids, whether that be a huge bruise or lactic acid built up in the muscles. It comes in homeopathic form in 30C strength in little blue Boiron vials at Whole Foods or anywhere they sell homeopathics. You can often find it at drugstores. When my children were toddlers, we would administer Arnica whenever they tumbled and got one of those big goose-egg bumps on their foreheads. 15 minutes after taking Arnica, we could watch that goose-egg shrink until it was a tiny bruise. It does the same for lactic acid, although the effects are less visible.
Epsom Salt Baths - Not all bath salts are Epsom Salt. You need Epsom salt specifically because it is Magnesium Sulfate. Magnesium causes muscle tissue to relax, and the hot water aids the circulation so it can remove the lactic acid. Our bodies have a Calcium/Magnesium balance that has to be maintained to keep our muscles in good shape. Too little Magnesium is often the culprit for muscle cramps, especially those at night. Magnesium also helps you sleep. Add some lavender to the bath to help relax the mind as well.
Massage - Either with Arnica Gel, which is non-greasy, odorless and has Arnica in it to help the body do it's job of releasing the lactic acid, or with Bio-Freeze if you feel you need the distraction of the tingling.
Activity - This sounds counter-intuitive, but the best thing you can do for sore muscles is to keep using them. The soreness usually peeks on day 2 or 3, and then begins to disappear. Muscle soreness gives way, in time, to stronger muscles and greater endurance when the work continues on schedule. Stopping and lying on the couch till the pain goes away not only takes longer, but totally stops the muscle and endurance building process, and ensures that you will have sore muscles again in the future. So keep going, and try to laugh at the discomfort you feel when you stand up or bend over with sore muscles. It is not a dangerous pain, it is a progress and growth pain.
The first summer intensive I took, I not only was getting used to 6 classes a day (up from 3 per week at my old studio), but I had a 30 minute walk to and from the studio every day. On day two, my sister and I arrived at our host home, tired and terribly sore (we didn't know about Arnica). We were confronted with stairs up to our rooms. We tried walking up, and after a few minutes of laughing at our inability to climb the stairs, we came up with the solution. We sat on the stairs and climbed the stairs one at a time by using our arms to lift ourselves to the next stair, and the next. By the end of that week, we were walking the stairs and felt no more soreness in class. We came home from 5-weeks of camp with muscles toned and the stamina to dance for hours. Some of that stamina still remains to this day.
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