Working Out Your Pain: Why Intense Exercise Is Painful
When it comes to experiencing pain, most people will agree that it is an uncomfortable sensation that we would rather avoid. Pain can vary in intensity—ranging from the mild sensation of stubbing your toe to the intense pain of a broken bone—and we generally think of it as a bad thing. But pain can be thought of in two ways: sometimes it is a warning signal that something is wrong with our bodies, but other times it is benign, meaning it is not an indication that something is necessarily wrong. Warning-signal pain occurs when certain areas of your body get hurt or experience tissue damage, like when a sibling accidentally closes the car door on your fingers. Benign pain, on the other hand, is the type of pain you feel during intense physical exercise, and as you will come to see, is not always something you need to avoid!