There are two types of post-workout inflammation. One which is a good kind that happens due to muscles getting stronger and the second which is a bad kind that happens due to hurting yourself. The first is an inevitable side-effect of any kind of exercise, because when you go through strength training, you create a few tiny tears in your muscles that ultimately helps the muscles get stronger. The second one is due to some sort of overuse and can cause literal pain in certain parts of your body. The most common spots that are very likely to get hit are the knees, shoulders and lower back.
- Knees: Exercises like running and jumping can get intense on your joints and your knees tend to get the brunt of it. If you haven't done these exercises in a while and if you do the HIIT classes or even squats or lunges, it becomes quite unusual for the knees and is discomforting. Even slower, lower-intensity modalities like Pilates and barre can cause inflammation in the knees due to small, repetitive movements. Make sure to ease yourself back into a routine. Start gradually with walking, biking, elliptical and then progress with running to do away with inflammation.
- Shoulders: Shoulders are one of those muscles that don't realise you're working until they start to burn. If you're not careful enough about your shoulders, the inflammation in that area will cause you to continue feeling burn even after you finish your workout. Dynamic stretching, foam-rolling and icing can be used as a treatment across the board as a way to keep your shoulders feeling okay.
- Lower back: People usually spend a lot of time sitting, not necessarily with a good posture which leads to inflammation in the back post workout. To get rid of this, you can workout your core. If you're only going to work one muscle, make it your core. One easy way to do that is by following an eight-minute series which you can do anywhere at any time.
