You’re working out with an injury, and you feel pain. Do you keep going? Do you stop and rest a minute and try again? Where do you draw the line? Is there a line?
First, let’s talk about “good pain” and “bad pain.” Good pain is “workout pain.” You’re doing crunches, and your abdomen starts to burn. You’re working the muscle you are targeting. Good job. Keep going. Bad pain is “problem pain.” The problem might be your achy back that hurts outside of working out, your neck pain your feel at the computer, and more. You sprained your ankle 1 month ago. You start jogging for the first time, and the ankle pain begins. It keeps increasing the longer you go. You should rest.
Good pain is “workout pain.” Bad pain is “problem pain.”
It’s important to note that pain does not always mean injury. With the example of the ankle sprain, if you continue to run on it, you might get increased pain, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you went backward 2-3 weeks in recovery because you felt that pain.
Pain does not always mean injury.
A rule of thumb that I say to clients is to try and not push your bad pain more than a little on your 10-point pain scale. If you are doing an activity, and the pain accumulates, you need to discontinue the activity and potentially try another day. For example, you have a shoulder injury and you want to do push-ups. Your first push up is a 1/10 on your pain scale. Your last is a 3/10. Don’t keep doing push-ups or modify.
If “problem pain,” or “bad pain” accumulates, you should stop.
Let’s talk about delayed pain and what that means. Delayed pain is any sort of pain that you feel after you work out or participate in general activity. Delayed onset muscular soreness is “good pain.” You do squats and 24-48 hours later, you feel a lot of soreness in your legs and hips. That means you are going to build muscle. In a “bad pain” scenario, you run on the ankle sprain and it feels fine during, but the next day, the ankle is really achy. The line might be confusing with this one because the ankle tricked you while running, but the line is actually simple. Next time you run, cut the time or distance and see how the ankle responds.
CASE EXAMPLES
Let’s run through some examples together!
You have a shoulder injury and you want to do a snatch lift. You get a 3/10 pain during the first overhead movement. Discontinue.
You squatted 2 days ago and have delayed onset muscular soreness (DOMS or “good pain”). You want to do lunges today. When you do the lunges, you are so sore. Your feel your form is a little off, but it’s “good pain”. Discontinue and rest!
You are doing a physical therapy exercise for your shoulder and it starts as a 1/10 “bad pain” pain. The pain continues to dissipate as you do the exercise. Continue.
You squatted 2 days ago and you want to run today. You start running and it’s “good pain” in your legs. Maybe a 1-2/10 on intensity. You keep running, and it’s not getting worse. I’d say continue. You might be sorer for longer with “good pain,” but you aren’t necessarily going to injure yourself.
You wake up with a sore neck. Your PT gave you a stretch to do. You perform the stretch and have 3/10 “bad pain.” Discontinue and try later. It worked before, but not right now. Remember, you aren't “hurting” your neck, but you aren’t helping it either by pushing through this pain in the moment.
If you want to know more about pain and where to draw the line, feel free to reach out to your physical therapist at any time! When in doubt, why not use a medical professional to guide you? There are other types of pains (visceral pain (i.e. something such as heart pains) that were not mentioned in this write-up). Make sure you know about those in relation to exercise. A PT or your primary care doctor are excellent resources to learn more.