¿Cuál es la diferencia entre malestar y dolor?

One of the most important lessons every runner must learn is how to distinguish between natural soreness after a run and pain that indicates an injury.

We know that soreness after a run is something we can usually keep running through the next day. We also know that pain is serious, and we should stop running immediately and connect with our doctor to rule out an injury. But it’s not always easy to tell the difference between feeling sore and feeling pain.

That’s why we talked to Dr. Andrew Creighton, an Assistant Attending Physiatrist at Hospital for Special Surgery in the Department of Physiatry, to help us better understand how to distinguish between these two sensations. Dr. Creighton shared three tips to guide runners through managing soreness and pain, while reminding us that everyone’s body reacts differently to physical activity.

Timing

Dr. Creighton’s Advice: Pay attention to a difference in timeline. “Soreness typically presents after physical activity and lasts one to three days, whereas pain can present during or after physical activity and often lasts longer than three days after physical activity,” he says.

Coach Tip: Keep track of how long you’re feeling a specific soreness or pain in a running journal or in your phone. If we don’t track it, we often won’t notice a pattern of being in pain.

How It Feels

Dr. Creighton’s Advice: Notice a difference in sensation. “Soreness typically is more of a tender sensation when touching the muscles; the muscles will feel tight at rest and then burn with exercise. Pain can be more of a sharp, uncomfortable sensation that runners can feel at rest or with exercise.”

Coach Tip: Describe your discomfort. By putting words to what you are physically feeling, you may notice yourself using words like “sharp or stabbing” which could indicate an injury or “tight and burning” which could mean you’re recovering from a hard run in that days prior.

How You Recover

Dr. Creighton’s Advice: Manage your recovery expectations. “With muscle soreness, while movement can initially result in discomfort, typically light movement, stretching, and exercise will prevent muscle soreness from worsening to pain. In a painful situation, often a period of rest, recovery, and sometimes treatment is necessary before returning to activity.”

Coach Tip: With soreness, you can gently stretch to feel better. With pain, you can’t stretch away the injury. Be honest about your pain and recognize if you’re trying to “run through it” rather than facing the reality head on.

If discomfort lasts more than three days, is sharp, and does not improve with light movement, you should stop running and talk to your doctor to find the underlying cause of your pain. There are many reasons why you may be in pain. Dr. Creighton highlighted a few examples of what you should do about it:

1. If you suffered a trauma and are having difficulty bearing weight because of pain, see a medical provider, as you likely need a workup with imaging, such as an x-ray or an MRI.
2. If there was no trauma (injury) but you have pain with weight bearing, then a stress fracture is possible; see a medical provider and have imaging.
3. In most other cases, pain is related to overuse and the treatment is relative rest and ice, then possibly therapeutic exercise. If the pain does not subside, seek treatment with a medical provider.