Discomfort/ Soreness/ Pain

How do you tell the difference between the three?

Discomfort is when you see that something is out of place but there is not significant pain, soreness is a little worse… and pain is that it’s painful, it hurts without a doubt. In my point of view they are three levels of pain, starting from the less important (discomfort), soreness, and then PAIN, when you did something you probably will remember to not repeat in your whole life.

Enich has a good description of the three. Let me see if mine will correspond.

I use a pain scale that was developed in the medical community for assessing patients and it goes like this:

0= no pain what so ever, no discomfort, no soreness, life is good.

1 to 3 = discomfort. There is a nagging little ache, it doesn’t mess with your life, you can function just fine, but its there. You might want to take/do something for it. (toothache)

4 to 6 = soreness. Now that ache is stronger. Its harder to function, but you still can. Certain movements are more difficult, but you can do them. You definitely want to take/do something for this. (infected tooth needing root canal and crown)

7 to 9 = pain. All you can think about is how to get rid of the hurt. You can no longer function it hurts so bad. You don’t ever want to repeat the activity that caused this. (biting down on an infected tooth on your way to the dentist)

10 = you want morphine, and about 3 hours ago. Think compound fracture, ripping a muscle loose from its origin point, migraine headaches, kidney stones.

Normally, but not always, pain will start out as discomfort, and we just don’t listen to it until its to late. Listen to what your body is telling you and pain can be avoided.

Personally, I’m allergic to pain.

Sunshinekid It seems that you’ve got a lot of trouble with your teeth.

Yeah, I’m allergic to pain too, and I don’t want to know if I’m allergic to penis pain as well. So donpatch… be easy with the exercices, if there is something out of place a day off could be useful.

Not really, its just that type of pain most people have experienced and can relate to. I could have used childbirth, but there aren’t many of us here that can relate.

And getting ones nuts crushed ( level 10) is an instant pain, no build up.

Nice thread! Sunshinekid, your description does help us not-native English speakers.

Discomfort - Knee’d in the thigh. Bruise on the thigh, hurts if you poke at it, can occasionally hurt a bit while walking around or sitting up or down but generally easy to ignore and it’ll get better on it’s own.

Soreness - You did 2x20 Squats with a barbell that weighs as much as your bodyweight. The next day you walk around and it hurts. Getting up, sitting down, walking around. All a constant reminder of the squats you did the day before. You know it will go away within a few days on it’s own but you wish it was now because it’s not a nice feeling.

Pain - You go squat the weight, bend down and feel an intense sharp burning pain in your thigh. Torn hamstring. OUCH! No matter how much ice you put on it, it doesn’t feel any better. You wait a week and it still hurts. Walking around doesn’t help this injury, it needs to be rested and allowed to heal before it’s used. Go to the doctor, get crutches and stay off it!