If you have ever played sports or started an exercise program, you have probably heard the motto “no pain, no gain” as a motivational saying for progress. However this may not be the safest or most truthful saying to follow.
Many people think that if they do not feel pain or their muscles do no hurt that they are not having a quality work out. This is not accurate. Rehabilitation and resistance training can be intense, which may cause some level of discomfort to occur, but pain is not required for a successful workout. It is also important to remember that pain can be a warning sign of an exhausted muscle or soft tissue injury.
Sudden, sharp or acute pain is your body’s way of alerting you that there is a problem in the system. Disregarding this type of pain, will actually not gain you anything, and may in fact lead to further injury. Ignoring acute pain can even extend the time an injury needs to heal.
Alternatively, if you are just becoming more active or beginning rehabilitation, you may experience muscular soreness following your workout or therapy. Muscular soreness is a normal response to beginning exercise, and can be expected to set in approximately 12 to 24 hours after a new activity. This type of discomfort should not be great enough to impair function, and if function is impaired, injury or overtraining may be suspected.
A better motto to follow is to “know pain and gain.” Learn the difference between sudden, acute pain that may accompany an injury and the painful post-exercise muscular soreness. If you are being treated in physical therapy and experience pain during your treatment it is important to bring it to the attention of your therapist to ensure you are not doing something harmful.
As physical therapy experts in Clermont, FL 34711, we help patients understand how your body should respond following a workout or PT treatment session.
