How Vitamin C is Repairing Your Muscles

Many of us take a vitamin C supplement to boost our immune systems, especially before traveling or as the seasons change. It is a ritual we as humans have repeated for generations. But did you know that vitamin C has been proven to offer a variety of other benefits?

Recent research shows that vitamin C could relieve sore muscles. This is excellent news since our daily activities are often affected by minor aches and pains or even deep soreness caused by intense physical work. The pain quickly causes us to lose joy in our daily routine. But what if those next-day pains could be diminished?

The soreness you experience the days following an intense workout or hard labor is referred to as delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). In the past specialists believed that this dull pain was caused by lactic acid building up in your muscles. Now they have found that DOMS is the result of tiny tears in your muscles trying to heal. While the tears are not dangerous, the achy muscles the next day leave you wondering if the exercise was worth the pain.

In a recent study, participants were asked to perform intense eccentric exercises for eight days in a row. Some in the study were given vitamin C before the workout, while the rest were given a placebo. The result? Researchers found that while taking the supplement before an exercise didn’t eliminate DOMS, it did reduce symptoms when taken before and after workouts.

The reason why vitamin C could help with sore muscles is that it is an antioxidant. Antioxidants assist the cell in the healing process. More specifically, vitamin C is necessary for tissue repair, and it is speeding up the healing processes of those tiny tears.

Interestingly, patients who have suffered trauma have a deficiency in the vitamin. Fibromyalgia patients have even benefitted from taking the vitamin. In fact, 17-20% of patients suffering from fibromyalgia claim that taking vitamin C regularly has decreased their symptoms.

Are there any side effects of taking vitamin C? Some caution is needed. If too much of the vitamin is ingested, it can cause slight stomach irritation that will lead to loose stools. If this is the case, the patient needs to cut back on the amount he or she is taking. Taking it with a meal is also ideal as it will be better absorbed into the body.

As with all supplements and medications, you should check with your doctor to be sure that it’s right for you.