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Sore Muscles? Try Cherry Juice

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Ever feel fine the day after a workout, only to be incredibly sore on the second day? Believe it or not, that second-day pain is your body's way of healing itself. Delayed onset muscle soreness -- DOMS -- is a by-product of the muscle building process.

Strenuous exercise creates minor tears in your muscles. In response, your body sends in a "repair crew" -- cells that fight inflammation, sweep the area of damage and initiate rebuilding. But the process often results in swelling and the release of chemicals that irritate nerve cells, causing the soreness that usually peaks 48 hours post-exercise.

Possible treatments to ease the pain include massage, stretching, ice therapy, over-the-counter pain relievers and nutritional supplements. One promising prevention is tart cherry juice. Researchers from the University of Vermont gave 14 students either tart cherry juice or a placebo twice a day for eight days. A tough workout was scheduled on the fourth day. Two weeks later the procedure was repeated with the treatments reversed. Strength loss and pain were significantly lower when the participants drank the cherry juice.

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