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INJURY & REHAB
IS YOUR CLIENT’S
PAIN AN INJURY
OR JUST MUSCLE
SORENESS?
By helping clients differentiate between the pain of injury and the soreness caused by
post-exercise muscle adaptation, you can better manage their recovery and training,
writes physiotherapist Tim Keeley.
or a lot of us, pain in the body will
come and go, like a headache.
You may have pain for an hour or
maybe even a day, but often it will
simply go away and you’ll forget about it.
There are many factors and mechanisms
that cause pain in the body, and sometimes
you may feel it’s not bad enough to actually
go and see someone about it. Your clients
will feel likewise, and although they may
mention pain to you, it doesn’t mean that
they have sought any further specific
treatment or advice. The best tip I can give is
that we should do something about our pain
before it becomes severe or long lasting. But
F
how do you know when?
The following information about pain, injury, and when to seek
professional advice and treatment will help answer this question.
Delayed onset muscle soreness (D.O.M.S)
As you will know, after training, you can develop delayed onset
muscle soreness (D.O.M.S). This pain and stiffness can be felt in
the muscle for between 24 to 72 hours, days after strenuous or
unaccustomed exercise. It is caused by damage to the muscle
during the eccentric (lengthening) part of the contraction and the
soreness comes when the muscle is adapting afterwards. It is a
common and normal muscle response if you have pushed yourself
hard, worked muscles in the outer limits of their flexibility, lifted
heavier weights than you usually do, or not exercised for a while.
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