Is muscle soreness caused by microtears? I’m specifically asking about body scans that confirm this theory. Can someone find proof on pubmed or any other credible site?
Btw I’m not talking about whenever micro tears help with bodybuilding, I’m just asking about the microtears alone.
In: Biology
Soreness is just a symptom and there are many causes of muscle soreness. Classic examples are buildup of lactic acid in muscles or lack of potassium or magnesium. This types of soreness / mild cramping are not caused by microtears but microtears are certainly real and do cause soreness.
Soreness, specifically DOMS, is caused by inflammation, which is a response to the damage but not directly from it (which is why its delayed as opposed to immediate soreness from injury).
Here are electron microscope images micro tears:
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/A-D-Electron-micrographs-of-longitudinally-sectioned-biopsies-taken-3-days-A-and-7-days_fig1_7449727
Here is a recent paper on the repair process with more images as well: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abe5620#F4
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