Joint pain during exercise - causes, types of pain, symptoms, prevention

High physical activity is almost always associated with pain, the causes of which are the intense work of muscles and ligaments. The pattern of the muscle chain often affects the joints: after just an hour of “health-improving” running or fitness, the unpleasant sensations are so overwhelming that a person is ready to accept the diagnosis of arthritis. The true causes in more than 90% of cases are located outside the joint capsule. The task of the osteopath in this case is to identify the pathological chain and compensate for the “defective link”. Professional athletes also experience joint pain after physical activity

Reason for pain

Joints allow you to perform basic functions - they provide the necessary position of the body, promote the movement of its parts and movement in space.

The movable connection of the bones resembles a regular hinge. It consists of three elements:

the ends of bones that connect, or articular surfaces;

joint capsule;

the articular cavity in which there is a lubricating fluid (it is called synovial).

The situation when joints hurt after physical activity is common. Any stress - heavy physical labor, regular sports or excess weight negatively affects the structure of the joint elements, deforms and gradually destroys them.

The amount of synovial fluid in the joint cavity begins to decrease. When moving, the changed parts are subjected to harsh friction, which is accompanied by pain.

Why you shouldn't ignore elbow pain during exercise

Ignoring the pain syndrome that appears during exercise is fraught with progression of the pathological process. Discomfort and pain will not go away on their own. If there is an inflammatory process, it must be stopped in time. Otherwise, complications develop:

persistent deformities in the joint with limited motor function;
a sharp increase in pain intensity;
complete loss of the ability to bend and straighten the elbow.

Specialists at the Shifa clinic recommend seeking help when the first symptoms of elbow dysfunction appear. It is much easier to restore motor activity and eliminate discomfort in the early stages of pathology development than in later stages. You don't need to endure pain, you need to treat it.

Physical activity and its effect on joints

To avoid joint pain after physical activity, before choosing a suitable sport, you should check the condition of the body, including the musculoskeletal system.

For amateur athletes, the main goals of training should be maintaining good physical shape, improving health, and receiving only positive emotions.

To improve the condition of the joints and restore their nutrition, the doctor may suggest starting swimming, yoga, and wushu gymnastics.

Short, quiet jogging, Nordic walking, cycling, and using an exercise bike help strengthen the musculoskeletal system. As a result of exercise, muscles become stronger and ligaments become flexible.

If a person prefers strength sports - for example, weightlifting, there is a real threat of the appearance and persistence of pain in the joints after exercise.

Intense, stable or constantly increasing impact on the joint parts provokes the destruction of osteochondral tissues, displacement and deformation of bones.

Most often, athletes experience problems with the joints of the lower extremities, shoulder girdle, and spine.

How to stretch your joints before training?

In order to ensure safe joint function, it is necessary to warm up before any physical activity. Depending on the sport you are involved in, the content of the warm-up may vary. There are special sets of exercises for runners, wrestlers, boxers, etc.

The main objectives of warming up the joints are to increase blood flow to them and increase their mobility. Also, by doing simple exercises at the beginning of your workout, you improve blood circulation not only in the joints, but also in the muscles, which increases the effectiveness of the exercise as a whole and increases strength indicators.

A proper warm-up in the gym should include working all muscle groups without exception, even if you plan to train only the upper body. Joint warm-up starts from the top and goes down. Focused attention is paid to those joints on which the maximum load is planned. In this case, we first warm up the large muscle groups, then move on to the smaller ones. You should take a vertical starting position with your feet shoulder-width apart. When warming up, maintain even, calm breathing.

A universal warm-up, which is widely used in gyms, usually takes 5-10 minutes and includes:

rotations and tilts of the head;
swing your arms back and forth;
extension and flexion of arms at the elbows;
rotation of arms and hands;
body bends;
regular squats;
rotation of the pelvis and each leg separately;
raising your toes;
circular movements of the knees and ankles.

The exercises are performed smoothly for 10-16 repetitions. In addition to this warm-up, you can do a short cardio session: 5-7 minutes of light jogging or cycling. But full stretching should be left until the end of the workout or performed on a separate training day, because it reduces the ability to concentrate during strength work.

Symptoms of pain during exercise

In order to accurately determine why joints hurt during exercise, it is important to identify the main symptoms and analyze them. The type of injury or the presence of a disease can be determined by a special combination of signs.

After intense physical activity, partial or complete dislocation of the joint may occur. It can be diagnosed by symptoms:

the appearance of severe joint deformation;

the occurrence of strong, vivid pain when performing any movement of the limb;

there is a sharp swelling of nearby tissues;

the presence of bruises (appear when ligaments are torn);

local increase in temperature in the area of injury.

The combination of signs will help determine damage to the knee meniscus. This injury often accompanies professional athletes, in most cases it is associated with increased physical stress on the limb.

Symptoms include:

forced position of the leg in a bent position;
the appearance and persistence of acute pain;
rapid formation of swelling.

An inflammatory process may develop in the joint after stress. It can be identified by the following characteristics:

pain can be felt with movement and at rest;

pain is localized near the joint and spreads up or down the limb;

when moving, sounds appear - creaking, clicking, grinding;

Swelling and redness of the skin occurs around the “problem” area.

What causes pain in the elbow during exercise?

Pain during exercise indicates the presence of predominantly inflammatory changes in the joint with the progression of local edema within the capsule. During exercise or doing household chores, pressure on its walls increases, which provokes discomfort.

The pain syndrome that occurs when the elbow joint is loaded can be characterized by varying degrees of intensity. This depends on the severity of local inflammation and the degree of irritation of the nerve endings responsible for the perception of pain.

With chronic and degenerative joint diseases (osteoarthritis, flaccid bursitis), patients complain of moderate aching pain. In the case of traumatic damage to the joint with a violation of the integrity of soft tissues and nerve fibers, the pain reaches high intensity and requires immediate use of painkillers to relieve well-being. The total duration of pain varies from a few seconds to a permanent state.

Types of pain during exercise

When the joints experience a stable, significant load and pain appears, its description may vary.

By nature it can be aching, pressing, cutting. Often victims point to its bursting nature.

Sensations may have different localizations. They spread inside the joint, above or below it, on the side.

Manifestations differ in intensity; adjectives are used to define it - pronounced or weak. Joints may hurt periodically or constantly.

Which doctor should you consult for elbow pain during exercise?

Pain syndrome in the elbow joint is the prerogative of traumatologists. However, in the initial stages, when the pain is not severe, you will need the help of a family doctor or local therapist, who will carry out an initial diagnosis. If there is no result from the prescribed drug therapy, general practitioners will refer you to specialized specialists (traumatologist, orthopedist, neurologist, rheumatologist).

The Shifa Clinic is a medical institution where all the indicated doctors are seen. No need to wait in lines. Just call the contact numbers and make an appointment at a convenient time. Our specialists will select the safest and most effective method for eliminating elbow pain that appears during exercise. The pain can be managed, the main thing is to turn to professionals in time.

Main causes of pain

Increased physical activity can provoke pain in several “traumatic” joints.

Pain in the wrists occurs when the tendons and ligaments of the wrist joint are damaged. The provoking factor is performing strength exercises with the hands or frequently repeated, monotonous movements. The joints of the fingers and wrists are often susceptible to arthrosis.

Pain in the elbow joint is caused by pathologies - osteochondrosis (thoracic and cervical spine), sprained ligaments, pinched nerve in the elbow area, the development of arthrosis, rheumatism, epicondylitis, bursitis.

The knee joint hurts due to changes in the meniscus, its displacement, after pinching of the lumbar nerves, nerve endings in the knee area, when intra-articular ligaments and cartilaginous tissue are sprained. Pain accompanies the progression of arthrosis and coxarthrosis.

In most cases, the ankle suffers from tendon or ligament ruptures, dislocation, or fracture. Similar problems are typical for the shoulder joint.

How common is elbow pain during exercise?

The prevalence of this symptom is directly related to a person’s lifestyle. The risk group includes:

athletes - most often weightlifters and gymnasts face a similar problem;
children – increased likelihood of traumatic injuries to the upper extremities;
men employed in agriculture - daily physical labor with overload of the elbow joint increases the risk of developing a local inflammatory process.

Elbow pain during exercise can also be caused by metabolic disorders of calcium metabolism. In such a situation, the risk of injury to bone structures increases.

How to protect yourself from injury?

To prevent joint pain after physical activity, it is important to warm up before each session. Professional trainers advise to “stretch” the body from top to bottom.

To do this, you should perform leisurely rotational movements 10 times with your head, bent, then straightened arms, hands, and torso. The warm-up should be continued with partial squats to activate the knee joint, alternately rotating the feet.

You should start playing sports under the supervision of a professional mentor. It is important to correctly calculate the load. The number of repetitions of any exercise increases gradually.

When performing them, pain should not appear; fatigue can only be pleasant. If you have any unwanted symptoms, it is better to consult a doctor.

What to do if your joints ache after training

You can relieve unpleasant symptoms with the help of ointments and creams. Depending on the nature of the pain, the following are used:

Ointments with a cooling effect. Recommended for acute pain resulting from injuries. These ointments contain menthol or eucalyptus.
Warming ointments. Used after the acute process has subsided, most often for chronic pain. They also help warm up the joint before training.

If the pain does not go away for a long time, you should consult a doctor and undergo the necessary examinations to check for sprains, bruises and inflammatory diseases such as arthrosis and arthritis.

The most common mistakes runners make that lead to joint pain after running

Why does this happen? Imagine that many new runners are those who spent years leading a sedentary lifestyle and then suddenly started running. If the heart, blood vessels, and respiratory system do not fail, then the joints in this case can definitely present an unpleasant surprise.

Long distances . You can't just start with cross-country. For a beginner who has never run, the workout should be short. The load should increase gradually. On the first day, run 1 km, then take a break for 1-2 days, let your muscles recover. And so gradually increase the length of the distance. Always take breaks! You don't need to run every day.

High intensity . Don't try to set records right away. Start with light jogging. Let your body get used to the load in principle.

You are not monitoring your pulse . Your heart rate is a good indicator that you're overdoing it. It should be no more than 155 beats per minute for very young people and 130-140 beats per minute for everyone else. Therefore, before starting training, purchase a heart rate monitor so that you can monitor the work of the heart muscle: how the heart contracts, how quickly the pulse rises. Especially during the first workouts, you need to carefully ensure that your pulse does not go too high, so as not to push your heart.

What to do if your knees hurt after training: causes and best ways to get rid of pain

Strength training, morning jogging, cycling, football, basketball are good for health, help strengthen the muscle corset, and help keep the whole body in good shape. But not the joints. These structural elements of the musculoskeletal system sometimes experience excessive stress during intense training. Short-term pain that quickly disappears after a good stretch is usually provoked by lactic acid. It accumulates in the muscles, but a feeling of discomfort occurs in the joints. If your knees hurt for a long time after training, then a thorough diagnosis is necessary. The examination cannot be postponed, especially if the intensity of the pain syndrome gradually increases. There is a possibility of an inflammatory or degenerative process developing in the knee joint. Then you will have to forget about training until you fully recover. Otherwise, increased physical activity will cause rapid progression of joint pathology. It is the knee joints that most often hurt after training due to the impact of static and dynamic loads on them. When performing exercises, changes occur in the muscular-ligamentous apparatus or osteo-articular elements. For example, when lifting a barbell, a person’s ligaments undergo a certain test of strength and elasticity. They stretch and then take an anatomically correct position. If the nature of the changes is temporary, then pain in the knee joints is considered normal. Under what conditions can discomfort after training be considered natural and does not require seeking medical help:

slight, short-lived painful sensations occur due to an increase in the concentration of lactic acid in the muscle fibers. It is formed during anaerobic glycolysis and is excreted from the body within a few hours. The rate of lactic acid metabolism depends on the athlete’s muscle training. To speed up its elimination, stretching exercises, massage, and short rest are practiced;
There is a dull aching pain that does not last long. It is not localized to a specific point, but spreads to the entire knee. Typically, such sensations are experienced by athletes who lift heavy weights or engage in freestyle wrestling. The dull nature of the pain syndrome is explained by temporary compression of the knee joint. Discomfort also occurs as the body naturally ages. With age, an insufficient amount of collagen is produced, which is responsible for the elasticity of connective joint structures. Their tensile strength decreases, so exposure to previous loads can cause microtrauma to hyaline cartilage. In the future, this can lead to the development of gonarthrosis - a severe pathology that is difficult to treat. If after 40-45 years of age athletes experience knee pain more often and more intensely after training, then it’s time to reconsider their regimen and reduce the load.

Pathological causes of pain
Pain is a protective reaction of the body to the influence of external or internal damaging factors. There are many pathological causes of discomfort and they are very diverse. Experienced sports doctors are able to make a diagnosis based on a person’s complaints and external examination. To confirm it, instrumental studies are prescribed. The most informative are radiography, arthroscopy, MRI, CT. The type of sport the patient is involved in becomes a definite clue for the doctor.

Run

People start running to lose weight, prolong youth, and improve their overall health. After the first lessons, even under the guidance of an experienced instructor, pain occurs in the knees. Over time, they disappear, as the strength and elasticity of ligaments, tendons, and muscles increases significantly. But, if the intensity of uncomfortable sensations increases in a runner, then the development of pathology can be assumed. Why do my knees hurt after training?

traumatic injury to the meniscus. If the loads are distributed incorrectly when jogging, the lower leg may rotate poorly relative to the hip. The nature of the pain that occurs is sharp, acute. The main symptoms of meniscus injury are extensive swelling, increased severity of discomfort during palpation and during movement;
luxation of the patella. Displacement of the kneecap occurs after a fall with the knee resting or a strong blow. The pain is sharp, but disappears quickly. After contacting a doctor, therapy takes only a few days. If an athlete neglects medical care, then a habitual dislocation of the knee joint gradually develops;
Chondromalacia patella is a pathological condition in which the cartilage of the posterior surface of the patella is destroyed. After a run, there is a nagging pain that disappears only after a long rest. It is necessary to urgently consult a doctor to stop the degenerative-dystrophic process.

Runners often go to the emergency room when they have damaged ankle ligaments or partial rupture of the Achilles tendon during a sudden start. But with excessive loads, the ligamentous-tendon apparatus of the knee is also injured. Despite adequate therapy, joint pain sometimes occurs after training.

Lifting barbells, dumbbells

These are the most traumatic sports for knee joints that experience excessive stress. At the end of their career, professional athletes often experience problems due to microtrauma of hyaline cartilage, leading to the development of gonarthrosis. The leading symptom of this type of osteoarthritis is pain that increases with flexion and extension of the joint. If your joints hurt after training, doctors suspect the following pathologies:

arthrosis of the knee, various forms of arthritis. Their development is indicated by long-lasting discomfort and the appearance of crepitus - a crunching sound during squats;
Osgood-Schlatter disease is an aseptic destruction of the tuberosity and nucleus of the tibia. The disease is usually diagnosed in young athletes.

After lifting heavy objects, pain in the knees occurs due to previous injuries: damage to the meniscus, rupture of one of the cruciate ligaments.
Strands are formed in the connective tissue structures, reducing the functional activity of the joint and causing its instability. Race walking and cycling

When walking and pedaling a bicycle, the knee joints move monotonously, and this is a common cause of damage to any joint. When your knee hurts after a workout, and this condition lasts for at least an hour, this may be a clinical manifestation of the following pathologies:

Osteoarthritis is a recurrent disease accompanied by the gradual destruction of cartilage tissue. To stabilize the joint, the body starts the process of formation of osteophytes (growth of the edges of bone plates). While walking, they compress sensitive nerve roots, causing severe pain. Discomfort in the knees after training is also explained by injury to nearby soft tissues;
gouty, rheumatoid, psoriatic arthritis. Pain after walking or cycling may indicate an inflammatory process developing in the joints. If no treatment was carried out at this stage, then soon you will have to forget about training forever. Destruction of hyaline cartilage will begin, which ends with disability;
osteochondritis dissecans - aseptic necrosis, leading to the separation of a small section of cartilage from the underlying bone and its displacement into the joint cavity. As a result, a loose intra-articular body is formed, causing pain during and after walking.

Acute pain syndrome is a sign of a knee injury, after which any movement becomes impossible.
Discomfort in the joint area of low intensity is felt due to previous injury. For example, if the synovial capsule was damaged after a fall, then during the healing process, areas of fibrous tissue may form on it. With this type of injury, the athlete needs to dose the load on the knee. Basic methods for pain relief

Pain that occurs due to natural causes is easy to eliminate. This is usually done by stroking the knee and then vigorously rubbing it. There is an intense rush of blood to the structural elements of the joint, muscle spasm is eliminated, and the elimination of lactic acid is accelerated. Professional athletes know well what to do if their knees hurt after training:

straighten up, place your hands on your sides, rise up, focusing on the toes of first one, then the other leg. Shake your feet vigorously and roll onto your heels. Perform exercises 20 times in 2-3 approaches;
legs spread wide and slightly bent, arms position is arbitrary. Sway gently from side to side to warm up. Then do shallow lunges, using both knees;
stand up straight, straighten your back, move your legs back one at a time and use your hands to pull your feet towards your buttocks. Perform the exercise 10-15 times in 3 approaches.

Sometimes painful sensations persist even after knee massage and physical therapy. Sports doctors have various types of gels and ointments with a cooling effect. Typically, their main ingredients are menthol and camphor. They act on the receptors of subcutaneous tissue, exhibiting analgesic, distracting, and locally irritating activity. After applying the ointment or gel, a pleasant feeling of coolness occurs, and the discomfort completely disappears. What else can you do if your knee joints hurt after training:

use cold compresses. Cooling helps reduce the intensity of discomfort. A bag of ice cubes wrapped in thick cloth is applied to the knees for 10-15 minutes;
rest for 30-60 minutes. You can simply lie down or sit down and put your feet on a pillow or put them on a low stool;
secure the knee with an elastic bandage. To do this, use a narrow bandage of medium or high stretch, which is wrapped around the knee several times. Pharmacies and medical equipment stores sell sports bandages that are comfortable to wear and do not restrict movement. Sports doctors recommend using them during training to reduce the likelihood of injury.

What to do when joints hurt after training is decided only by a doctor after carrying out diagnostic measures. If the results of instrumental studies do not reveal degenerative tissue degeneration, then wearing soft bandages and a good warm-up before training will help eliminate discomfort in the knees. And if developing articular pathology is detected, long-term therapy with chondroprotectors, analgesics, and NSAIDs is required.