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What Should I Do If I Have Pain During an Activity?

Jim Nugent DC
Jan 13
3 min read

How We Help Patients Decide When to Push, Modify, or Stop

One of the most common—and most important—questions we hear at River Forest Health & Wellness is:

“What should I do if I feel pain during an activity or exercise?”

It’s a fair question. Many patients have been told conflicting advice over the years:

“Push through the pain.”

“Rest until it’s gone.”

“If it hurts, you’re damaging something.”

The truth is more nuanced.

Pain is information, not a simple stop sign—and not something to ignore either. To help patients make smart, confident decisions, we use a simple but powerful traffic-light pain model.

This framework helps determine:

When activity is safe
When it should be modified
When stopping is the best option

Why Pain During Activity Isn’t Always a Bad Thing

Pain does not automatically mean damage.

In many musculoskeletal conditions—low back pain, tendon injuries, arthritis, post-surgical rehab, and even chronic pain—some discomfort during movement can be normal and expected, especially when tissues are being reloaded after injury or deconditioning.

Avoiding all pain often leads to:

Decreased strength
Reduced tissue tolerance
Increased stiffness
Fear of movement
Longer recovery timelines

That’s why we don’t ask, “Does it hurt?”

We ask, “How does your pain respond?”

The Traffic-Light Pain Model We Use in the Clinic

🟢 GREEN LIGHT — Good to Go

What it feels like:

No pain during the activity
Or no increase in symptoms afterward

What it means:

Your body is tolerating the load well
The movement is appropriate for your current capacity
This is where we want most activities to live

What we recommend:

Continue the activity
Gradually progress intensity, resistance, or duration
Use this as your foundation for building strength and confidence

🟡 YELLOW LIGHT — Proceed With Caution

What it feels like:

Mild increase in pain or discomfort during or after activity
Symptoms return to baseline within 10–30 minutes

What it means:

The activity is near your current tolerance threshold
Not necessarily harmful—but worth monitoring

What we recommend:

Modify the activity (load, range, speed, reps)
Focus on form and breathing
Use this zone strategically during rehab when appropriate

This is often where rehabilitation happens, especially with:

Tendon injuries
Early return to sport
Progressive strength training
Postural re-training

Yellow doesn’t mean “bad.” It means be intentional.

🔴 RED LIGHT — Stop

What it feels like:

Significant increase in pain
Pain lingers 1–24 hours (or longer) after the activity
Symptoms worsen over the next day

What it means:

The tissue or nervous system was overloaded
Recovery capacity was exceeded
Continuing may delay healing

What we recommend:

Stop that specific activity for now
Reassess movement patterns and load
Address contributing factors before retrying

Red is not failure—it’s feedback.

Why “Pushing Through Pain” Often Backfires

Repeatedly training in the red zone can lead to:

Persistent inflammation
Tendon degeneration
Central sensitization
Loss of confidence in movement
Chronic pain cycles

Our goal is progressive exposure, not forced tolerance.

How This Model Fits Into Our Treatment Approach

At River Forest Health & Wellness, this pain model is integrated into everything we do, including:

McKenzie Therapy
Using repeated movements to assess symptom response and guide safe loading
Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization (DNS)
Improving joint centration and motor control to reduce unnecessary stress
Chiropractic & Manual Therapy
Restoring motion where needed so tissues don’t compensate elsewhere
Shockwave Therapy & Soft Tissue Work
Improving tissue quality and healing capacity so the body can tolerate load again
Patient Education
Because understanding pain changes outcomes