Ice-cold water immediately after an intense muscle workout has been shown to reduce muscle soreness more than any other single treatment. It reduces muscle inflammation and prevents much of the soreness from lingering in your muscles.  If you are a professional or college athlete or workout at an elite gym, you might have an ice bath there that you can utilise to help reduce muscle soreness. If not, try these strategies instead:  Jump into a cold shower or bath. The colder, the better: professional athletes use ice water, but if you can't stand it, just use cold tap water with no hot water added. It won't work as well as ice water, but it will be better than warm or lukewarm water. If you're an athlete, consider investing in a five-gallon bucket. For soreness of the arms (like from baseball practice), a five-gallon bucket filled with ice water will allow you to ice the whole arm at one time. This method will also work for feet. When icing a muscle or muscle group (rather than your whole body), make sure wrap an ice pack in some sort of buffer before applying the ice. This will keep the extreme cold from injuring your skin. Try putting crushed ice in a plastic bag, then wrapping it in a tea towel or washcloth before applying to the affected muscles.  Use plastic wrap to secure ice to limbs or the body. If you need to be moving around (cooking, cleaning, etc.) while using ice, plastic wrap can help secure ice onto a muscle while you move. Ice your muscles for 10 – 20 minutes. While the first step should always be ice, a few hours later it’s a good idea to apply heat to the affected muscles to help stimulate blood flow to your muscles and help them to remain limber instead of tight. Apply heat for about 20 minutes.  Take a hot shower or bath. The water will relax your muscles as you soak. Adding Epsom salts to your bathwater is an effective home remedy for sore muscles. Epsom salts are made of magnesium, which is absorbed into the skin and works as a natural muscle relaxant.  Add two to four heaped tablespoons to a full bathtub and stir a little to dissolve. Enjoy your bath. You should feel some relief immediately after you finish your bath.  For stiff neck, take uncooked rice and fill a tube sock and tie off the end. Microwave for 1.5 minutes and use as a heat wrap. It is reusable. For isolated sore muscles, you can apply peel-and-stick heating pads directly to the skin and wear them under your clothes for hours. These can be purchased at most pharmacies. While it's tempting to completely relax your muscles as you recover, studies show that light activity that uses your sore muscles can reduce the length of time that you're sore. It's important to give your muscles time to recover, though, so be sure that you don't overdo it.  Exercise helps muscle soreness by increasing blood flow to the affected muscles, which helps them to eliminate waste more quickly and keep muscles from becoming stiff. Consider the intensity level of the workout that made you sore, and then do a lighter version of that activity the next day (similar to the intensity of a warm-up). For example, if running five miles has you sore, take a brisk walk for a half a mile to a mile. When you exercise to exhaustion, tiny tears occur in muscle fibers. The body's natural response to these tears is inflammation. Massage helps reduce the amount of cytokines the body produces, which play a role in inflammation. Massage also seems to increase the amount of mitochondria in your muscle, which enhances the muscles' ability to extract oxygen.  Massage also helps move lactic acid, lymph, and other stagnant toxins from the muscles. Seek out a massage therapist and allow him to work on your sore muscles. Massage therapy is relaxing, meditative, and healing. Massage the muscles yourself. Depending on the location of the soreness, you can try to give yourself a massage. Use a combination of your thumbs, knuckles and palms to work deep into the muscle tissue. You can also use a lacrosse or tennis ball to really work into knots and take the pressure off your hands. If you are massaging a sore muscle, don't focus on the middle of the sore muscle.  Focus more on the connections at each end.  This will help the muscle to relax more quickly.  So if your wrist is sore, massage your forearm. These handy devices make it possible to give yourself a soothing deep-tissue massage both before and after working out, which can loosen up your muscles and help prevent soreness as well as treating muscles and knots that are already sore. These are very useful for sore thigh and leg muscles but can also be used on the back, chest, and buttocks. Press the roller into the sore muscle and rub it up and down. The action helps relieve tension and stress.  Known as "self-myofascial release," this method of massage was once only used by professional athletes and therapists but is becoming mainstream for anyone who participates in sports or fitness activities. You can purchase a foam roller at any athletic store or online. Check out this helpful wikiHow article for advice on how to use your foam roller to best soothe sore muscles. If you don't want to spend the $20 – $50 on a foam roller, you can use a lacrosse ball or tennis ball to roll under your body. If you need immediate relief, try acetaminophen or a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (also known as NSAIDs) like ibuprofen, naproxen, or aspirin.  If you are under the age of 18, or if the person you're caring for is under the age of 18, avoid the use of aspirin. Aspirin in children under 18 has been linked to a dangerous disease called Reye's syndrome, which results in acute brain damage.  Try to avoid using NSAIDs on a regular basis. NSAIDs might reduce your muscles' ability to repair themselves naturally if you take them too frequently. It's best to find more natural ways of treating muscle pain if you can. The feeling of muscle soreness after an intense workout or when you exercise muscles that have not seen much action lately is usually normal, but there are some signs to watch out for that might indicate a more serious condition.  Normal muscle soreness after working out usually hits a day after your exercise routine, especially if you change your workout routine, increased your intensity, or worked muscles that you're not used to working. This muscle soreness typically peaks on day two and then gradually subsides.  Pay attention to any sudden shooting pains that happen while working out, which can signal a torn muscle. Also, watch for pain in your joints which might signal damage to a ligament or meniscus, or could be a sign of osteoarthritis.  Call your doctor if you experience any muscle pain that comes on suddenly or does not respond to the use of over-the-counter pain medication, or if the pain does not start to resolve after a few days.
Ice up. Heat up. Keep moving. Get a massage. Invest in a foam roller. Take pain medication. Know when soreness is normal and when it signals a problem.