Muscle twitching after workout

Fibers in strong muscles coordinate better for improved response to exercise stress.

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You've probably experienced muscle twitches after working out at least once in your life. It could be a tic in your biceps, or maybe one of your calves starts jerking and trembling. Muscle twitches are typically more of an annoyance than anything, and they'll stop as abruptly as they started. When your muscles start quivering and shaking involuntarily after a challenging workout, though, you might wonder if it was the workout that set them off.

Stressing the Fibers

When you use a muscle, during a workout for example, the muscle fibers take turns contracting, and when you exercise them intensely with a challenging workout, the trade-off between fibers can become irregular. This results in the muscles twitching until the fibers calm down and your system goes back to normal. Exercise is one of the direct causes of muscle twitching listed by Medline Plus.

Typically No Cause for Concern

Usually if a muscle tic starts occasionally after a workout, it's nothing to worry about. It can be tedious and irritating, but benign muscle twitching can last a few minutes or even a few days, and in most cases it isn't necessary to contact your doctor. However, if the twitching doesn't stop on its own after three or more days, and if you feel tingling or weakness in the muscle that's twitching, those are symptoms that your doctor should be made aware of.

Related Reading: What Does It Mean if Your Quadriceps Are Twitching?

Treating a Twitch

There's nothing you can really do to stop a muscle from twitching once it starts. If you have a muscle twitch that began after exercise, relaxing may help since stressing the muscle is what caused the tic in the first place. A natural reaction may be to stretch the muscle, and although that won't hurt, it's a remedy that is better for treating muscle cramps, a condition that is different from muscle twitches. Writer Richard Rosen offers a treatment you can try in his article for "Yoga Journal" on muscle twitching. Press the twitching muscle against the bone underneath it as you stretch the muscle. This soothes the muscle fibers and encourages them to relax.

Preventative Actions

You may experience quivering muscles after exercising, and it could be the workout that brought them on. However, other issues such as poor diet and stress can also cause muscle tics, too, and those may make it more likely that you'll experience exercise-induced twitching. There are preventative measures you can take to avoid muscle tics: eat a balanced diet that includes protein, whole grains, fruits and vegetables; keep your caffeine intake to a minimum; and avoid drinking caffeinated drinks during your workout. Stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water, especially while exercising, and avoid fatigue and stress by getting enough sleep.