While you don’t want to stand in the way of your body’s natural healing abilities, there are steps you can take to speed up the process and make it feel a little less painful.

Use an ice pack

There’s a reason why ice packs are often held up as the gold standard for muscle ache – not only can they reduce pain by numbing the area, they can also speed up the healing process.

Willcocks explains: “Using an ice pack diverts blood flow away from the surface and deeper into the muscle tissue to help irradiate the toxins from muscular breakdown and the lactic acid from anaerobic respiration. The muscles have already been broken down during the training, and the body is working to rebuild them.”

Fuel your body

To repair your muscles, your body needs plenty of fuel, so ensuring you get the correct balance of nutrients (especially post-workout) will help to make the healing process a little smoother.

“Refuelling is fundamental pre, during and after training,” Thie explains. “This is in relation to the correct balance of carbohydrates and proteins. The latter is especially important in the 30-minute window post-training to help the body repair itself over the next few hours and days.”

He continues: “Being hydrated with current levels of electrolytes and minerals will definitely help the body fatigue less and recover faster.”

Do some gentle movement

You don’t want to risk damaging your muscles further, but some light, gentle movement can really help to encourage the healing process.

“DOMS will ease over time, but the very best way to cope with it is to keep moving at a much gentler pace or with a supported exercise like swimming,” Pritchard says.

Doing this will help to promote blood flow to the affected areas, which will help to carry away the muscular breakdown and supply the muscle with oxygen and nutrients.

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