Good Pain vs. Bad Pain

by Genevieve Sepulveda March 23, 2022

The goal of this article is to teach you how to identify whether the pain you feel is "Good Pain" or "Bad Pain".

Knowing which one you're experiencing helps you know your body's needs, and in response care for yourself better! Let's dive in!

Good pain feels like muscle burning during dance activities and body aches following intense workout.
This type of pain usually resolves in 12-24 hours.

Bad pain feels like burning, tingling, numbness, sharp, prolonged ache, and stinging.
Bad pain can last more than 24 hours and returns with increased activity.
Bad pain will be consistent over 2-3 weeks.

Burning/tingling/numbing symptoms are usually due to over stretching multiple parts of your body at once. These symptoms can occur minutes and/or hours after initial injury.
If the symptoms are only during dance activities and are very light, avoid excessive stretching motions and symptoms should resolve.
Traumatic pain (muscle pulls/strains, spines, contusions) respond to RICE, braces, wrapping, and immobilization.
Pain that gradually comes on often points to overuse or possibly excessive training loads.
During overuse, your muscles fatigue so the load on the joint/ligament structures increases. Once the ligaments have difficulty controlling the joint(s), the joint(s) or surrounding tissue become more susceptible to injury.

If you are experiencing "Bad Pain", it's important to talk to your Primary Care Doctor or a Physical Therapist.

They can help you find the next best steps to recover from your pain/injury. So, you can get back to feeling and performing your best!