Running and pain go hand in hand. It’s something that comes with the territory of working hard to achieve our goals. Running is a high impact and repetitive motion, and at some point or another all runners get injured. But knowing when you can run through the pain and when to stop and rest can be hard to parse.

Should you run on an injury?

To start off, what’s the difference between soreness and injury? Roughly defined, soreness is a part of training. It might be a cramp, a light case of tendinitis, or some other injury that we may feel as we’re running but it goes away after 10 minutes running or a few days of rest and does not cause us to compensate as we’re running. An injury is something that is more serious. It’s something that might hurt badly while walking or something that increases in pain as we continue our activity.

Paying attention to these subtle differences is very hard if you’re new to running. But as you gain more experience you’ll begin to recognize what your body’s normal soreness is and what you might want to be concerned about.

What should you do if you feel pain when running?

This is one of the trickiest questions to answer because it takes having to be real with yourself and evaluate everything that lead to the issue you might be dealing with. Was it a bad step that caused something to tighten up or is it something more gradual that came on?

The best immediate option to try is to stop and lightly stretch or even massage the area. If that doesn’t work the best option is to head straight back home to where you began, even if it’s going to be less than the planned amount of mileage for the day. Best case scenario is you get back and the discomfort has gone so you do a little add on. You don’t want to keep pushing on wards just for the pain to get worse and get stranded even farther from the start point. On your way back if you’re still feeling discomfort try switching things up. Try changing the surface you’re running on, even if it means running somewhere a little less traditional or different than your normal route

Once you’re home practice the classic RICE method: rest, ice, compression, and elevation. It’s a tried and true method applying to the beginning of any injury that can help speed the recovery process. The next day if it still hurts while walking around don’t run. Your body experiences much higher forces while running compared to walking so if it hurts doing something light like walking around the house it means your body isn’t quite ready yet. If it still persists after a few days it might be worth booking an appointment with your Doctor or PT to figure out a path forward.

When it’s ok to run through pain

Like mentioned earlier this is where it gets tricky. We as runners are often very stubborn and when we set out on something we want to finish it no matter what our body is telling us.

To start off if you feel any pain across your neck and shoulders stop immediately and find help as it could be heart related. Faintness can be ok to feel unless it feels unusual from normal weariness. If you’re unsure, it’s much better to take a couple of minutes rest to see if it’s just tiredness than to push through it. That said there are a few general guidelines to use to help figure out if it’s just a soreness.

1. Does it remain or get worse even after a few minutes running?

2. Does it get worse in the hours after a run?

3. Are you compensating your normal stride?

If the pain you’re feeling falls into any of these three areas you should immediately stop apply RICE and contact a doctor as the pain you’re feeling is not something you can push through. If the pain is achy in the morning and to begin a run but goes away then that means it might lean more towards the soreness side and you are fine to keep running on it as long as you’re careful.

I can’t run what cross training can I do?

This is something that is very dependent on what your injury is and what’s causing it. Often times getting on a bike and spinning for 30-60 minutes at a light resistance can be a great aerobic workout without the impact or force of running. Sometimes it could be pool running or swimming laps as the non impact and full body workout is a great cross training exercise for runners. The best piece of advice is to work with your coach and figure out a cross training and strength plan to come back from an injury. Every injury is different and what works for some may not for others.

Take your time coming back. No season was ever ruined by an extra day or two of rest but lots of seasons have been ruined by pushing through. Soreness is a common thing to feel while running and learning to tell the difference between soreness and injury will come with more experience as you run.