When you are running or hiking over hilly terrain, the climb usually feels like the hardest part. Your breathing becomes heavier, your heart rate rises and your legs have to work to move your body against gravity.
Yet it is often the descent that leaves you gripping the handrail the next morning.
Whether you have completed a hilly road race, tackled a bushwalking trail, spent a day hiking with a backpack or simply added more hills to your usual run, travelling uphill and downhill places very different demands on your muscles.
Understanding that difference can help explain where the soreness comes from, why it may not appear straight away and how to approach recovery.
Going uphill: your muscles produce the movement
As you move uphill, your muscles must generate enough force to lift your body against gravity.
The gluteus maximus helps extend the hip and drive the body forwards and upwards. The quadriceps straighten the knee as you push through each step, while the calf muscles contribute at the ankle as the foot leaves the ground. The hamstrings also assist with hip extension and help control the leg throughout the stride.
Much of this work has a concentric bias. A concentric contraction occurs when a muscle produces force while shortening. Think of the upward phase of a squat or stepping up onto a high ledge.
This is metabolically demanding, which is why an ascent can quickly increase your heart rate and breathing. The steeper the slope, the more work is required to raise your body with each step.
Uphill activity commonly places greater demand on:
- The gluteus maximus
- The quadriceps
- The calf complex, including the gastrocnemius and soleus
- The hamstrings
- The muscles supporting the trunk and pelvis
If you are hiking, the height of each step, uneven ground and the weight of a backpack can increase that demand further.
Going downhill: your muscles have to control the movement
Downhill movement can feel easier because gravity is helping you travel in the right direction. Your cardiovascular effort may reduce, but your muscles have taken on a different job.
Instead of primarily propelling you forwards, they must repeatedly slow and control your body as it drops onto each leg.
The quadriceps act like a braking system. As the knee bends under your body weight, the quadriceps remain active while lengthening. This is known as an eccentric contraction.
You can feel the same type of muscular action when you:
- Lower slowly into a chair
- Walk downstairs
- Step down from a high rock
- Control the lowering phase of a squat
- Run down a steep hill without allowing yourself to accelerate
Eccentric contractions can produce considerable force. When the body is not accustomed to them, they are also strongly associated with delayed onset muscle soreness, or DOMS.
The calves and muscles around the hips also contribute to deceleration, shock absorption and stability. On uneven trails, the gluteus medius, ankle stabilisers and muscles of the feet work continuously to control side-to-side movement and adapt to changing surfaces.
For runners, downhill movement also tends to involve greater impact forces. For hikers, the pace may be slower, but hundreds of repeated step-downs – often while carrying a pack – can create a significant accumulated load.
Why the soreness may be worse after the descent
It is possible to feel more tired during the climb but more muscularly sore after the descent.
The repeated lengthening contractions involved in downhill movement place mechanical stress on muscle fibres. When this load is unfamiliar or greater than the body is prepared for, it can produce temporary muscle damage, inflammation, stiffness and a reduction in force.
Research into downhill running has found measurable reductions in the strength of both the quadriceps and plantar flexors – the calf muscles involved in pushing the foot downwards – during the following 24 to 48 hours. The effect was particularly pronounced through the knee extensors.
This helps explain why your legs can feel relatively manageable immediately after an activity, only to become much more uncomfortable the next day.
DOMS commonly develops within 12 to 24 hours and may be most noticeable between 24 and 72 hours. Typical symptoms include:
- A dull, widespread muscular ache
- Tenderness when the muscle is touched
- Stiffness after sitting
- A temporary reduction in movement
- Legs that feel heavy or weak
- Difficulty walking downstairs or lowering into a chair
This soreness is not caused by lactic acid remaining trapped in the muscles. Lactate produced during exercise is processed relatively quickly. DOMS is more closely associated with the muscle’s response to unfamiliar or strenuous loading, particularly eccentric loading.
Why stairs expose tired quadriceps so quickly
Walking downstairs closely reproduces the muscular action used during a descent.
As you lower onto the next step, the supporting knee bends while the quadriceps lengthen under load. If those muscles are already sore or fatigued, they may struggle to control the movement smoothly.
This can create the familiar post-hike or post-race experience of climbing upstairs reasonably well, then discovering that coming back down is considerably less graceful.
The same problem may appear when sitting onto a low chair, getting off the floor or lowering yourself into the car.
Running and hiking do not load the body in exactly the same way
Downhill running generally involves greater speed, repeated impact and less time to adjust foot placement. The quadriceps must absorb force quickly while the trunk, pelvis and ankles respond to each landing.
Hiking usually occurs at a slower pace, but the individual steps may be larger and less predictable. Rocks, loose surfaces, tree roots and uneven ground require more balance and lateral control. A backpack also increases the total load that must be decelerated with every step.
This means soreness is not determined only by distance. Gradient, speed, terrain, pack weight, step height, footwear and previous exposure to hills all influence how the body responds.
A relatively short but steep descent can sometimes create more next-day soreness than a much longer walk on level ground.
Can massage help after a hilly run or hike?
Massage may help reduce the perceived discomfort associated with DOMS and make stiff muscles feel easier to move. However, it does not instantly repair muscle fibres or replace sleep, hydration, nutrition and appropriate recovery time.
The timing and intensity of the treatment matter.
Immediately after a demanding event or unfamiliar descent, the muscles may already be fatigued and sensitive. Very deep pressure is not automatically better and may be unnecessarily uncomfortable when applied to acutely sore tissue.
An early recovery session may instead use gentler techniques, adjusted to how the tissue responds. Once the initial soreness has settled, more targeted remedial work may be appropriate if particular restrictions or movement patterns remain.
At Repose Lab, the therapist may assess more than the area that feels most painful. Depending on the activity and symptoms, this can include:
- The quadriceps
- The calves and Achilles region
- The hamstrings
- The gluteal muscles
- The hips and lower back
- Ankle movement and lower-leg control
- Differences between the left and right sides
Tell your therapist about the distance, terrain, gradient, pack weight and when the soreness began. Also mention whether the discomfort is general muscular soreness or a specific pain that started during the activity. These details help determine whether massage is appropriate and how the treatment should be approached.
Preparing your legs for the downward journey
General fitness does not always prepare the body for long descents. Someone may have strong legs and good cardiovascular fitness but still experience significant soreness if they rarely train eccentric control.
The most useful preparation is gradual exposure to the type of terrain you expect to encounter.
Controlled step-downs, split squats, lunges and slowly lowering through calf raises can all introduce eccentric loading. However, the load should be progressed gradually, particularly if you have existing knee, hip, Achilles or lower-back symptoms.
Regular hill training can also create a protective adaptation. Once the muscles have experienced and recovered from an appropriate amount of eccentric loading, they often respond with less soreness when a similar demand is repeated.
Massage can support recovery and help manage muscular discomfort, but it cannot replace progressive strength and terrain-specific preparation.
When soreness needs more than recovery
Ordinary DOMS tends to feel like a broad muscular ache that appears after the activity and gradually improves over several days.
Seek assessment from an appropriate medical or allied health professional if you experience:
- Sharp or highly localised pain
- Significant swelling or bruising
- Pain centred inside a joint
- Inability to bear weight
- A knee or ankle that feels unstable
- Numbness, tingling or unusual weakness
- Symptoms that continue to worsen
- Pain that is not beginning to improve after several days
Severe muscle pain accompanied by marked weakness, swelling or dark, tea-coloured urine requires urgent medical attention.
The climb and descent are two different workouts
Uphill movement challenges your ability to generate force and move against gravity. Downhill movement challenges your ability to absorb force, brake and remain controlled.
That is why the part that feels easier at the time can create the greater muscular reminder afterwards.
If your legs are still negotiating with every staircase after a hilly run, bushwalk or weekend hike, a treatment tailored to the activity and your stage of recovery may help.
Book a remedial massage with Repose Lab and let us know exactly where the hills found you.