Started Exercising and the Pain Won't Quit? Here's What It Means
Warm weather has a way of reviving every promise we made to ourselves about getting fit. Gyms fill up, bikes come out of the shed, and long-postponed sports finally get a try. It's also when a first tough session leaves muscles, joints, and other connective tissue aching for days after. Experts explain which of those aches you can shrug off — and which ones you really shouldn't.
More physical activity, a steady exercise habit, or finally taking up a sport you enjoy — any doctor, in any specialty, will applaud that. Yet ambitious plans often stall fast: after the first harder workout, muscle, joint, or other connective-tissue pain shows up, and motivation quietly follows it out the door.
According to Milda Šiupšinskienė, a physiotherapist at Miesto Medicinos Centras (City Medical Center), the most common mistake beginners make is starting too fast. "It's better to build up the load gradually — it's not only muscles that need to adapt to more demanding training, but tendons, ligaments, and fascia too, and those tissues change more slowly," she explains. "It also helps to first learn to activate the abdominal muscles symmetrically — not just the rectus abdominis, the 'six-pack' muscle — to work on aligning the pelvis and rib cage, and to keep the torso stable while the limbs are moving."
She also points to the role deep stabilizing muscles play: when they're doing their job well, it's easier for a joint to stay centered, meaning the joint surfaces meet over the largest possible area and the load is spread more evenly. That, she says, is what allows joints and the tissue around them to hold up well even under heavy training loads.
Pain During Exercise
Pain is usually a signal that a movement shouldn't be continued in that direction. If something hurts after a workout, Šiupšinskienė advises easing off next time and letting the body adjust gradually.
Warming up properly matters just as much. "Before a long hike, a bike ride, tennis, basketball, or any other intense session, do a few joint-mobility exercises first — bend your fingers, knees, and elbows, rotate your ankles, wrists, hips, and shoulders, and gently flex and rotate your spine. Activate your abdominal and glute muscles too, along with your diaphragm — when you inhale, your shoulders shouldn't rise, the sides of your belly should expand instead," the specialist advises.
Still, pain doesn't always ease up after a workout, and the physiotherapist says some situations call for a prompt visit to a physiotherapist or family doctor rather than waiting it out. "Don't brush it off if pain or discomfort keeps showing up in the same spot — especially if that area swells, turns red, or feels warmer than the skin around it. A shrinking range of motion is another warning sign: pay attention if it suddenly becomes hard to lift your arm, turn your head, bend, or straighten up."
"See a doctor as well if signs of inflammation — pain, redness, swelling — appear in more than one joint at the same time, since that can point to a problem affecting the whole body," she adds.
Cracking and popping sounds tend to worry people, but Šiupšinskienė says they're usually unrelated to joint problems and nothing to lose sleep over. The exception is a grinding sound from the kneecap (patellofemoral) joint when bending the knee — that particular sound can be linked to changes in the joint cartilage and is worth having checked by a physiotherapist or doctor.
Nutrition matters for joint health too. "Make sure your diet doesn't fall short on vitamins and minerals, keep food as natural as possible, maintain a healthy balance of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, and get enough vitamin D3 — from UVB exposure or from food during the darker months — and don't forget to drink water," notes M. Šiupšinskienė. A well-formulated omega-3 supplement can help cover any gaps.
As with overall health, joints thrive on the basics, the specialist says: staying active, exercising regularly, paying attention to posture, and keeping work and rest in balance.
