Pains which are good

Bursts of intense exertion release lactic acid, a by-product of the breakdown of glucose when oxygen is in short supply. The acid irritates pain receptors in the muscles, and these communicate their plight to the brain through electrical messages, sent through the spinal cord. The signals are interpreted as a burning sensation in the legs, usually causing the runner to slow down or stop.

That is until the nervous system's control centre, the hippocampus, kicks in. This seahorse-shaped portion of the brain responds to pain signals by ordering the production of the body's own narcotics, endorphins.

The proteins bind to opioid receptors in the brain and prevent the release of chemicals involved in the transmission of pain signals. This helps block pain, but endorphins go further, stimulating the brain's limbic and prefrontal regions — the same areas activated by passionate love affairs and music.

Runners get a high after a long workout, but what's going on in the brain? Credit: Thinkstock. More generally, the pleasurable post-pain rush is thought to have evolved to help people cope in the immediate aftermath of an injury.

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Get some gentle exercise Simple, everyday activities like walking, swimming, gardening and dancing can ease some of the pain directly by blocking pain signals to the brain. Activity also helps lessen pain by stretching stiff and tense muscles, ligaments and joints.

In the long term, the benefits of exercise far outweigh any increase in pain. Read more about exercise. Breathe right to ease pain Concentrating on your breathing when you're in pain can help.

Read books and leaflets on pain The Pain Toolkit is a booklet packed with simple practical advice on how to live better with long-term pain. Counselling can help with pain Pain can make you tired, anxious, depressed and grumpy. Distract yourself Shift your attention on to something else so the pain is not the only thing on your mind. Share your story about pain It can help to talk to someone else who has experienced similar pain themselves and understands what you're going through. The sleep cure for pain Many people with long-term pain find it difficult to sleep at night.

This fatigue should leave the individual somewhat exhilarated but not overly exhausted. Chronic fatigue after excessive exercise suggests that the individual may be overtraining.

If after appropriate rest the fatigue continues, it may be a sign of other medical problems and you should consult a doctor. The muscles, tendons, ligaments, cartilage and bones of the body are living structures that react to the stress of exercise only gradually. If they see stress too fast, they cannot respond effectively and may begin to fail. The causes of the failure can be too much stress too fast, or it can be the accumulation of excessive stress over time.

When this occurs, each one of these tissues responds a little differently. This can result in bad pain. For example, when muscles that have not been exercised for long periods of time see a lot of stress, they respond by getting sore. Muscle soreness typically occurs if you do a new exercise to which you are not accustomed or if you do a familiar exercise too hard. This soreness typically begins within a few hours but peaks one to two days after exercise. This soreness is called delayed onset muscle soreness and may represent actual muscle damage.

A little soreness or discomfort means that the muscle has been stressed, but if the muscle is exercised too much, the muscle can become very sore to move and touch and may even swell. In severe cases, the muscle may be damaged to the point that the muscle starts to develop permanent damage.

In extreme cases, individuals who are not adequately conditioned who exercise excessively can develop a condition where the muscle is permanently damaged and proteins are released into the blood stream, which can shut down the kidneys. While it is rare, there have been cases of death due to this extreme overexercising of the muscles, so it is generally recommended that if you start an exercise program, you begin very slowly and build up gradually. To prevent this problem with your muscles, we usually recommend the following rule: Take the amount of exercise you think you can do and cut it by one third the first few times you do it.

In a similar fashion, the tendons that connect muscle to bones may get irritated if they see too much stress too rapidly. They respond by getting inflamed, which is characterized by pain and sometimes swelling. Tendinitis pain typically occurs during exercise and can continue afterward when performing activities using that muscle or tendon.

For example, tendinitis of the kneecap tendon patellar tendon is frequently seen in athletes who do jumping or squatting activities. What is bad pain? How do you tell the difference? Bad form leads to bad pain. The pain is in your joints i. The pain is pinpointed in one area, as opposed to more general and spread out i.