Now I’m sure this is an expression that many of you have heard before and have quite potentially said yourself. It’s that little mental game that we tend to play without ourselves to try and make pain seem like it isn’t as bad as it is. It great when we are trying to push ourselves particularly at the gym or when trying to increase our fitness. But there is also a time when pushing ourselves isn’t such a good thing.

I know that I’m not a stranger to that ‘being a bit sore when starting to exercise’ feeling. This may be felt a little bit more if you are going straight into a hard workout without warming up. So to prevent feeling achey when you start out in exercise it is always good to do a warm up, and even a warm down to make the next session that little bit easier! If you are feeling sore at the start of exercise, take it easy to start with and make sure you are warming up well. If you don’t and push through the pain (to try and make the gain) then there is the chance that you may damage your muscles or ligaments. Stretching and doing a warm up is a really essential part to making sure that pain doesn’t cause you an injury or aggravate one that may still be sitting there niggling away at you.

If you suddenly get pain whilst doing anything, particularly when working out, then this isn’t such a good sign and normally is telling you that something is wrong, but I’m sure everyone would have guessed that anyway. If this happens to you it is generally best to stop what you are doing and rest. This sudden pain can happen for a number of reasons. It can be because you have somehow injured yourself in a new way or may be trying to get back to sport too quickly after a pervious injury. What I tend to see day to day is people who have had previous injuries are better at stopping if they get pain, but it’s those who aren’t expecting it that tend to push through. There are a whole different range of causes for this sudden pain and is probably a good indication that it is time to see a physio or other health professional to get it properly diagnosed and to ensure that it won’t become that annoying pain that prevents you from doing things like you normally would. If you don’t get it treated it can turn into a chronic injury which often takes longer to treat and fix than a fresh injury.

Pain whilst exercising can also indicate that you aren’t doing the activity exactly as you need to, which is common with weight training. Backs are often the first thing to complain at you if you are lifting or bending incorrectly with weights, but it can involve any part of the body. This is often the hardest pain to understand. If you are weight training, you will be wanting to get that burn, but listening to your body is really important to be able to decide if pain is good or not so good. Technique is so, so important with exercise, especially if exercise is something you do for fun rather than as a job.

So yes, we do want to induce some pain to know that what we are doing is working, but we always want it to be a good pain and not a bad pain. A good indication of a less ideal pain is if it is present for more than 48 hours and doesn’t ease with rest. If you are unsure with your pain and know if it is something that will help or hinder you then book in for a free phone consultation or come and see us in clinic.