Pain or soreness usually occurring 24 to 72 hours after heavy or unfamiliar exercise is known as ...

• A. Chronic sports injury
• B. Discrimination
• C. Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)
• D. Drug

Answer: (C)

The idea being tested is delayed onset muscle soreness, the type of muscle pain that shows up after doing heavy or unfamiliar exercise. It happens because tiny injuries occur in muscle fibers during intense or new activity, especially with eccentric movements, and the body’s inflammatory response causes soreness that builds up over time. That’s why you often feel sore 24 to 72 hours after the workout, not during it. This differentiates it from a chronic sports injury, which is ongoing, long-term pain from overuse or damage, and from unrelated terms like drugs or other concepts. So the term that best fits this pattern of soreness timing and cause is Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness.