Why do my muscles hurt?
Our muscle are these marvelous mini machines that continually work hard for us! They are the main mechanisms for practically everything we do…everything from opening our eyes, to getting out of a chair, to walking, to smiling and laughing! Do yourself a favor and smile right now!! You just exercised 10 muscles! Go ahead…smile one more time! J Did you just giggle? Well, you just engaged about 50 more muscles! What a great way to exercise! Keep it up! Smile and laugh your way through the day and you could burn up to an additional 100 calories!
But the truth is, our muscles aren’t always smiling and laughing, are they? Quite often it seems the muscles in our back, legs, arms and everywhere end up snarling and growling at us with a variety of aches and pains! More often than not they seem to come with a mysterious beginning and with no end in sight. Sometimes this pain is due to a lack of use and sometimes it is due to an overuse or improperly using muscles. But how can we know for sure what the real reason is? The first place to start is by looking into possible reasons and/or causes and finding out how to help work through them. Pain doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ever be active or you need to stop immediately.
When we experience physical pain it is our body’s way of telling us that something isn’t quite right. Pain is a warning sign that we should listen to rather than neglect or ignore. Many times we don’t know what to do about pain so we either rely on the expertise of others or we do nothing. Bone, joint and muscular pain can be a tricky topic to navigate. However, having a general idea might be able to help you identify and resolve some of the muscular pain you are experiencing. Below are some common symptoms and possible indicators that could help you decipher what your aches and pains mean, along with a few ideas of how to get help.
IDENTIFY THE LOCATION OR SOURCE OF THE PAIN
As you pay attention to where your pain is coming from try to differentiate between whether the source of your pain is bone/ joint related or soft tissue such as tendon or muscle.
Bone and joint pain could mean arthritis and therefore must be seen by a doctor before exercises are prescribed. However, water exercise can be beneficial as well as very gently movements. Chair aerobics and chair yoga could be beneficial.
Muscle and tendon pain can usually be helped with either cool or warm packs placed directly over the area. They can also be helped with gently movements, stretching and sometimes even massage depending on the severity of the pain.