You’re making progress through your rehabilitation program at GRIT, building strength and confidence week by week. Then your physiotherapist introduces a new exercise or increases the intensity of your current routine. The next day, you wake up with some soreness in the area you’ve been working on. Should you be concerned? Have you overdone it? Or is this simply part of the recovery process?

Understanding the difference between normal exercise soreness and problematic pain is crucial for a successful rehab journey. At GRIT, we believe in empowering you with the knowledge to navigate these experiences confidently.

Why Soreness Happens During Rehab

Rehabilitation is essentially a controlled process of gradually loading your injured tissues to help them adapt and become stronger. When we introduce new exercises or progress existing ones, we’re asking your body to work in ways it hasn’t for some time, or to handle slightly more demand than it’s been used to recently.

This process naturally creates some tissue stress—and that’s exactly what we want. Your muscles, tendons, and joints need appropriate challenge to heal and strengthen. Think of it like strength training: when you work muscles they haven’t been used to working, some soreness is expected as they adapt to the new demands.

The 3/10 and 24-Hour Rule

At GRIT, we use clear guidelines to help you understand when soreness is normal versus when it might indicate you need to adjust your approach:

The 3/10 Rule: Any soreness you experience after progressing or trying new exercises should not exceed 3 out of 10 on a pain scale (where 0 is no pain and 10 is the worst pain imaginable). This level of discomfort is mild enough that you can still move normally and sleep comfortably.

The 24-Hour Rule: Normal exercise-related soreness should resolve within 24 hours. If you’re still experiencing the same level of discomfort more than a day after your exercise session, it may indicate that the load was too much for your current tissue capacity.

What Normal Rehab Soreness Feels Like

Appropriate rehab soreness typically has these characteristics:

  • Mild intensity: Noticeable but not distressing or limiting your daily activities
  • Widespread: Often felt generally through the muscle or area you’ve been working, rather than sharp or localized to one specific spot
  • Movement-responsive: Often eases with gentle movement and worsens with prolonged rest
  • Expected location: Occurs in the muscles or areas you’ve been specifically targeting with exercises
  • Familiar feeling: Similar to the sensation you might get after returning to exercise after time off

When to Be Concerned

While some soreness is normal, certain signs suggest you may need to modify your approach:

Pain Level: Soreness exceeding 3/10 intensity may indicate excessive load Duration: Discomfort lasting longer than 24 hours suggests your tissues need more recovery time Quality: Sharp, shooting, or significantly different pain than your usual exercise soreness Impact: Soreness that interferes with sleep, daily activities, or makes you move differently Location: Pain in areas you weren’t specifically targeting with exercises

Adjusting Your Approach

If you experience soreness that exceeds our guidelines, don’t panic. This is valuable feedback that helps us fine-tune your program:

Reduce Load: We might decrease the intensity, duration, or frequency of the challenging exercise Modify Technique: Sometimes small adjustments to how you perform an exercise can make a significant difference Add Recovery Time: Your body might need more time between exercise sessions to adapt Alternative Exercises: We may substitute different exercises that target the same goals with less irritation

The Goldilocks Principle

Successful rehabilitation follows the “Goldilocks principle”—we want the load to be just right. Too little challenge and your tissues won’t adapt and strengthen. Too much challenge and you risk setbacks or prolonged soreness. Some mild soreness indicates we’re in that sweet spot where your body is being appropriately challenged.

This is why we progress your exercises gradually and encourage you to communicate openly about your responses. Your feedback helps us keep you in that optimal zone where healing and strengthening occur most effectively.

Building Your Confidence

Learning to interpret your body’s signals during rehab builds confidence and self-efficacy. When you understand that mild, short-lived soreness can be a positive sign of tissue adaptation, you’re less likely to fear normal responses to exercise progression.

This knowledge also helps you become an active participant in your recovery. You’ll know when to push through mild discomfort and when to communicate with your physiotherapist about adjusting your program.

Communication is Key

We always encourage you to share your experiences with your GRIT physiotherapist. Let us know:

  • How you felt during and after new exercises
  • The intensity and duration of any soreness
  • Whether the soreness affected your daily activities or sleep
  • If you had any concerns about the sensations you experienced

This information helps us ensure your program remains appropriately challenging while staying within safe limits.

Your Rehab Journey

Remember that rehabilitation is rarely a straight line. Some days you’ll feel great, others you might experience mild soreness as you progress. Both experiences are normal parts of building resilience in your injured tissues.

At GRIT, we’re here to guide you through these experiences, helping you understand what’s normal and when adjustments might be needed. With clear guidelines like the 3/10 and 24-hour rules, you can approach your rehab exercises with confidence, knowing how to interpret your body’s responses.

The goal isn’t to avoid all discomfort—it’s to work within appropriate limits that promote healing while building your strength and confidence. Trust the process, communicate openly with your physiotherapist, and remember that some soreness can actually be a sign that you’re on the right track to full recovery