Should You Keep Working Out Through Pain? (What You Need to Know)

Should I keep working out through pain?

This is one of the most common questions we get.

Someone comes in dealing with some kind of pain, and the first thing they want to know is whether they should stop working out completely or keep going.

“No pain no gain,” right? Right??

Well, not exactly.

It’s more like “no discomfort, no gain.” And I’ll explain why that difference matters.

But to answer the question first, in most cases the answer is no, you don’t have to stop working out. However, that comes with several very important caveats:

• Listen to your body. Never push through sharp, shooting, or pinching types of pain. The type of sensation that makes you recoil and say “what was that?!”

• Discomfort is okay. Soreness, stretching, tension, cramping. These sensations are generally safe to work through, even if they feel uncomfortable and intense.

• Do what you can. Modify the workout as needed. That might mean using a different variation of a lift, lowering the weight, choosing a different exercise, or even doing a completely different workout that doesn’t involve the irritated area.

So it really becomes about finding what you can do without triggering the wrong kind of pain, while understanding that most forms of physical discomfort are completely safe to work through.

Why does the distinction between pain and discomfort matter?

Not all sensations are the same. The body gives you different types of feedback, and learning how to interpret that is really important.

Generally speaking, it’s productive and beneficial to push through discomfort. That’s how we adapt, make progress, and build capacity. It’s how we grow as humans. 

On the other hand, it is almost never productive to push through sharp, shooting, or pinching pain. (I say “almost” never because if it’s the world championships of your sport or find yourself in an emergency situation, you do what you have to do). But in normal day-to-day training, pushing through pain is usually not helpful and not sustainable.

What actually happens if I push through pain? Will my arm explode?

No, probably not. At least not right away.

But typically, your nervous system interprets those sharper, more intense pain signals as “not safe” or “something is wrong.” In response the nervous system enacts mechanisms to make the area guard and tighten up in an attempt to protect itself.

This actually decreases the area’s ability to handle load and stress, which makes it easier to get irritated again during normal activity.

That’s how people get stuck in a cycle where the same issue keeps coming back.

The other extreme: stopping everything

The flip side of this is people who stop all activity at the first sign of pain and assume rest is the solution.

And while temporarily reducing certain activities can help calm things down, complete rest doesn’t address the underlying issue.

If the capacity of the tissue hasn’t changed, then as soon as you go back to your normal routine, the same problem often shows up again.

Avoiding movement doesn’t prepare you to handle it later.

So what should you actually do?

Stay active.

Just understand that you’ll likely need to modify your normal training to match your body’s current level of capacity so you don’t keep aggravating things.

From there, gradually build back up.

Increase the load and demand in a controlled, safe, progressive way so that the area becomes more capable over time.

The goal is not simply to avoid pain.

The goal is to improve what your body is capable of handling so the same issue stops coming back.

How we approach this

This is a big part of how we work with patients at Chicagoland Spine and Sport.

We see this all the time working with people in the Aurora, Oswego, and Naperville areas, especially those who are active or trying to get back into training but keep running into the same issue.

If you want a better idea of how we assess and approach this in a full session, you can read more about what to expect at your first visit.

If you’re not sure what to do next

If you’re not sure how to modify your workouts or you keep running into the same problem, we can help.

 Book online or give us a call to schedule a visit.