Discomfort is the reward we get for pushing our bodies to the limits. After all, if exercise and physical therapy were easy, everyone would do it. It’s completely normal to experience some soreness after a workout or following athletic competition, but pain shouldn’t be normal. Since the symptoms of soreness and an injury are oftentimes quite similar, it can sometimes be difficult to tell if you are dealing with normal muscle soreness or a more complicated injury that requires monitoring. In today’s blog, we explain some of the ways to tell the difference between soreness and injury so that you can follow the right recovery path.
Soreness Or Injury?
Muscle soreness is a byproduct of pushing our muscles during exercise or athletic activity. When we’re putting a lot of stress on our body, we’re actually experiencing microtears in the muscle tissue. Your muscles get bigger and stronger as the tissue works to repair these microtears, so while they are essential to muscle development, these microtears also contribute to the root cause of soreness. Microtears can contribute to soreness, discomfort, muscle weakness and tenderness in the affected area, but it usually resolves with rest over the course of a few days as your body repairs these small tears.
An injury, on the other hand, occurs when larger tears develop in the muscle or nearby soft tissues. If the tissue is overloaded with acute or repetitive stress, these microtears can get bigger, and the bigger the tear, the more dysfunction in the tissue. Of course, you can also suffer an injury to non-soft tissues as well, like a bone fracture or nerve impingement. Symptoms of all these injuries tend to be a little different than your average soreness, so it’s important to know the difference between the two.
Here’s a look at some of the ways you can work to differentiate between soreness and an injury:
- Intensity – Soreness tends to be a duller type of pain, whereas an injury is typically a more sharp sensation. Muscle fatigue and soreness may be a little sharper shortly after the workout or as you step out of bed the next morning, but most describe their soreness as low or dull. Injuries tend to be sharper and more intense.
- Duration – Soreness tends to fade over the first 24-72 hours after exercise, whereas an injury tends to remain moderately uncomfortable. Some injuries even start to feel worse after a day or two, so if discomfort remains elevated after a day or two, you may be dealing with more than just soreness.
- Activity’s Impact – If you’re working to determine if you’re managing an injury or soreness, some light activity can help provide some clarification. Stretching, walking or light exercise tends to help soreness resolve. However, these same actions may lead to an increase in symptoms if you’re dealing with an injury. It’s always important to warm up before activity, but you can also learn more about your body by seeing how it responds to this light activity.
- Location – Soreness tends to be felt across an entire muscle. For example, after a long run, you may experience some tightness and soreness in your calf muscles the next day. With an injury, the discomfort tends to be a little more isolated. You may be able to touch a specific spot that’s uncomfortable instead of feeling the dull discomfort in a general area.
- Response To Treatment – Finally, you can work to alleviate soreness or determine the extent of an injury by seeing how the issue responds to conservative treatments, like ice, rest, physical therapy or anti-inflammatory medications. If your discomfort responds well to these interventions, it’s likely just some soreness, but if symptoms persist in the face of treatment, you may be dealing with an injury.
If you need help identifying an injury or overcoming discomfort after pushing your body with athletic activity, let the team at OrthoRehab Specialists be your guide. We know how to push you to your athletic peak without increasing your risk of injury. For more information, or for help with a different issue, give our team a call today at (612) 339-2041.
PT of Costa Rican National Soccer Team for 2007 World Cup in Victoria, CAN. Clinical Instructor for University of Minnesota Doctor of Physical Therapy Affiliations
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