Why you shouldn’t take painkillers after working out
Artificially suppressing the initial inflammation from exercise could prevent the healing process and neutralise some of the real benefits of exercise
You know that after pushing yourself hard your body is going to be sore.
That might be middle-of-the-road, pretty-good sore if you’ve just played an unexpectedly intense game of pick-up soccer, or it might be holy-hell, what did I do to myself sore if you’ve just raced a triathlon or decided to open the winter season with a day snowboarding on steep trails.
Either way, you might be inclined to reach for an over-the-counter pain reliever like ibuprofen (Advil) when you are done. It seems like it makes sense. You’ve shredded your muscles and stressed your ligaments, bones, and tendons, and you know there’s some inflammation there. So why not take an anti-inflammatory drug?
But for general soreness — especially if you want your body to recover best and get stronger — you shouldn’t.
Inflammation causes pain, but it’s also the first step towards healing. When you work out you’re damaging muscles. In response your body adapts, healing that damage and making you stronger so that you can better handle those forces in the future.
Some research has found that some of the pro-inflammatory compounds produced by exercise then cause the release of powerful anti-inflammatory substances that help damaged muscles heal and have other long-lasting health benefits. There’s reason to think that artificially suppressing the initial inflammation could prevent that healing process, neutralising some of the real benefits of exercise.