5 Best Stretches That’ll Seriously Relieve Sore Muscles

Exercise, especially certain stretches, can help relieve sore muscles.

Stretches can be a good way to soothe sore muscles as it improves fluid circulation.

Consider the morning after your workout.

Fluids in our bodies are distributed differently when we lay down. For the most part, gravity pulls our body fluid toward our head, neck, or spine.

When we stretch after long hours of sleep, we redistribute these fluids to get back to their original positions.

This enables our muscles to get into normal alignment. If you have sore muscles, these simple stretches can be super helpful.

In this post, we’ll discuss some stretches and exercises to help relieve sore muscles.

Let’s dive in!

1. Lizard pose

If you have sore muscles in your quads, hamstrings, and hip flexors, this is a great stretch.

In fact, this exercise is by far one of our favorite stretches for sore muscles.

Here’s how to do it:

• Go on your knees as you rest your arms on your elbows and let your hands touch the ground.
• Lift your right ankle and bring your left leg forward such that it rests on the foot with the foot next to your hands.
• Let out the left foot slightly backward maintaining its ankle position.
• Remain in the position for a few seconds.

2. Child’s pose

Child’s Pose is a beginner’s stretch that helps to stretch the thighs, hips, and ankles.

Besides the feel-good sensations of a stretched body, this child pose stretch allows you to breathe deeply and relieve stress.

This provides you with a calm body posture to your body.

It also provides relief for neck pain when you provide support to your head and torso. 

It’s one of the best sore muscle stretches that can reduce stress.

How to do a child pose stretch

• Begin by getting on your knees and placing your palms on the floor with your fingers pointing away from you thereby getting into a table pose. 
• You can leave your knees together or slightly apart.
• Lower your hips to the heels. Rest lightly on them. 
• Stretch out your arms in front of you over your head keeping them straight.
• Place your forehead on the floor.

3. Crescent lunge pose 

This stretch is perfect for stretching the thighs, and legs.

Not only can it relieve sore muscles, but this pose also allows you to improve your body’s balance and flexibility.

And at the same time, it slowly improves your energy levels.

Specifically, the Crescent lunge pose is a great stretch and exercise for sore muscles in the lower body, including the hamstrings, glutes, calf, and thighs.

How to do a crescent lunge pose

• Stretch one leg backward resting on the toes and bend the knee of the other leg.
• Let the foot of the bent knee be firmly placed on the floor.
• Bend the body at the waist to rest lightly on the thigh of the bent knee.
• Stretch your arms close to the bent leg and let the finger pads of the hands rest lightly on the floor.
• Bend the stretched out leg at the knee slightly and place the palms of both arms on the bent knee of the bent leg.
• Press the upper body up until straight. 
• Straighten the bent knee of the stretched out leg and lift your arms up towards the ceiling. They should remain straight.
• For a deeper stretch, gaze up and leave your arms stretched out above your face.

4. Thoracic spine foam rolling

Sore muscles can lead to poor posture.

And poor posture is a cause of all kinds of back pain like the tightening of the trapezius muscle.

This simple foam rolling stretch is a fun exercise to engage your back muscles and provide relief to sore muscles.

How to do Thoracic spine foam rolling

• Buy a foam roller and place it on the floor. 
• Lie back and place upper back on the foam roller. 
• Bend your knees in such a way that only your feet touch the ground. 
• Place your hands behind the head. 
• Start moving up and down via roller in such a way that the movement reaches mid-back
• Where you feel strained muscles, pause there for 20 seconds. 

5. Up the wall

This easy stretch is good for your sore glutes and hamstring muscles.

• Sit down on the ground in a position where you are facing the wall.
• Lie down with your back on the floor 
• Raise your legs in such a way that they are against the wall and perpendicular to the ground.
• Let out your arms in a direction parallel to the wall.
• Stay in the position for a few seconds.

Takeaway

These easy stretches can help relieve sore muscles and are good exercise in general.

As you go through all these stretches, remember to breathe deeply and allow your body and mind to be engaged in the stretch.

This can provide additional therapeutic benefits to your body as well. Hot yoga, in general, may have similar therapeutic effects.