Almost every athlete I see asks some version of the same question in the first five minutes: should I be training through this, or should I stop?
Most people default to one of two extremes. Some stop everything the moment something hurts and wait for it to go away. Others ignore it, push through, and hope it sorts itself out. Both approaches tend to backfire, in different ways. There’s a better middle ground, and it’s simpler than you might think.
Why Complete Rest Usually Doesn’t Work
Rest feels like the safe choice, and for the first few days after a sudden injury it often is. But for most overuse problems, like tendon pain, runner’s knee or a cranky low back, long periods of rest have a cost. Tissues adapt to what you ask of them. Ask for less, and they get less able to handle load.
So the pain settles, you go back to training, and it returns, often within a session or two. Not because you did anything wrong, but because your body now tolerates less than it did before you stopped.
Why Pushing Through Doesn’t Work Either
On the other side, ignoring pain and carrying on at full volume keeps an irritated tissue irritated. The problem slowly gets more sensitive, the pain shows up earlier in each session, and a niggle that could have been managed in a few weeks turns into months off.
Pain isn’t a perfect measure of damage. But it is useful information about how your body is coping with the load right now, and it’s worth listening to.
The Rule: Monitor Pain, Don’t Obey It or Ignore It
The approach I use with most athletes comes from research on tendon injuries, where it’s called the pain-monitoring model. It turns “listen to your body” into something you can actually apply. Training is generally okay if all three of these hold:
- During training, pain stays at or below about 3 to 5 out of 10. Noticeable is fine. Sharp, building, or changing how you move is not.
- It settles within 24 hours. Some soreness that evening is acceptable. It should be back to baseline by the next day.
- It isn’t trending worse week to week. Mornings, warm-ups and everyday activities should be stable or improving.
If all three are true, you’re in a range your body can handle, and staying active is usually helping, not hurting. If any of them fails, that session was too much. Don’t stop completely. Pull the next session back a step: less volume, less intensity, or a variation that’s easier on the sore area. Then build again from there.
What That Looks Like in Practice
A runner with an irritated Achilles might drop from 50 km a week to 30, skip hills, and keep the strength work. If the Achilles stays within the rule for a week or two, the kilometres come back up gradually.
A lifter with a sore low back might swap heavy deadlifts for a lighter hinge variation, or reduce the load by 20 to 30 percent while keeping squats and upper body training as normal.
The pattern is the same: find a version of training that passes the test, and progress from there. Most athletes are surprised by how much they can keep doing.
When the Rule Doesn’t Apply
This approach is for overuse and gradual-onset pain. It’s not for acute injuries or warning signs. Stop and get assessed if you have:
- Pain that started suddenly with a pop, twist, fall or impact
- Significant swelling, bruising, or a joint that locks or gives way
- Pain that’s sharp and localised to a spot on a bone, especially if it’s worse with each run
- Numbness, tingling or weakness that’s spreading
- Pain at night or at rest that has no clear link to activity
Getting a Plan That Fits Your Training
The pain-monitoring rule works best when you know what’s causing the pain and which parts of your training are the problem. That’s what an assessment is for. At GroundSwell, I’ll work out what’s driving it, what you can keep doing, and how to build back, with the strength work done in the gym at Groundwork Athletics rather than on a treatment table.
Read more about sports physiotherapy at GroundSwell, or book an assessment online.
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