If you’ve ever walked away from a tough workout with the poise of an immortal gladiator, only to wake up two days later feeling like you’ve been run over by a horse-drawn chariot, you’ve experienced what experts call delayed-onset muscle soreness, or DOMS.

Unlike the acute muscle soreness you usually feel during your workouts—toward the end of a tough set, for example—DOMS has nothing to do with lactic acid buildup. Rather, it is the result of tiny, microscopic tears in the muscle caused by strength training or other forms of intense exercises. It isn’t quite as painful or ominous as it sounds (actually, it’s a good thing), but it’s not exactly a picnic.

No surprise then, as more people have found their way to fitness, it’s become increasingly common to hear about folks using over-the-counter pain relievers to get themselves over the DOMS hump. But while that might sound like a simple fix, the experts say it is anything but.

“Generally speaking, what I would say is I advise against routine use of these,” says Dr. Mani Singh, assistant professor of sports medicine in the department of rehabilitation and regenerative medicine at Columbia University Medical Center.

“It actually works against the intended point of the workout, so to speak,” says Dr. Stacia Woodcock, pharmacy editor for GoodRx. “You’re working against your body.”

Here’s why experts recommend you pop the cap back on the bottle and ride out post-workout muscle soreness the old-fashioned way.

Pain Relievers Don’t Work That Well Anyway (For Muscle Soreness)

If you’re taking OTC pain medication to treat post-workout muscle soreness, you’re most likely turning to either nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or acetaminophen. The former is a category that includes drugs like ibuprofen, Advil, and Aleve; the latter, also known as paracetamol, is the generic name for Tylenol. While NSAIDs work at the source of inflammation, acetaminophen steps in downstream.

“It’s more of what we call a central inhibition,” says Dr. Singh. “It kind of tells your brain that there’s less pain.”

While NSAIDs are considered to be more potent than acetaminophen when inflammation is involved, they can be hard on the stomach and pose potential risks to, among other things, your kidneys and heart. But the thing is, for all their various pros and cons, neither type of drug has actually been found to be very good at soothing aching muscles.

“Most of the clinical studies actually show the opposite—that taking anti-inflammatories can delay the muscle healing that is causing that soreness,” says Dr. Woodcock. As for acetaminophen, “it’s good for pain and fever, but doesn’t really do much for inflammation—and again, isn’t likely to do much for post-workout pain.”

Still, that doesn’t stop wounded weekend warriors from reaching for the ibuprofen. “As a knee-jerk reaction, that’s what people tend to turn to when they’re in pain,” says Dr. Woodcock. “It’s almost like a placebo effect. As a society, I think we’re much more inclined to take a pill for things as opposed to looking for holistic treatments.”