With the numerous muscles throughout the body, it’s difficult to avoid aches and pains at times. While most types of muscle pain are temporary and commonly caused by overworking, it could indicate a complex underlying problem that’s not due to normal physical wear and tear.

What is Muscle Pain?

Muscle pain (myalgia) is a random, sharp ache indicating an infection, disease, injury, or other health conditions. Muscle pain mainly affects the back, abdomen, arms, hip, and leg muscles, but any muscle can be subject to these incidents. There are varying degrees and durations of muscle pain, with the most common symptoms including shooting pain, burning sensations, cramping, and even numbness.

“Short-term” muscle pain can last a few hours, a couple of days, or up to six months, and the pain is generally alleviated with muscle recovery and resilience. Health experts consider anything beyond that to be long-term pain and it may or may not be treatable.

Different Types of Muscle Pain

Muscle pain is classified as related or unrelated to muscle activity. Notably, muscle activity-related pain happens during or after extensive physical activity, as with strains and soreness. In contrast, muscle activity-unrelated pain is a cause for greater alarm as it may be emanating from an underlying condition including tears, neuropathy, and certain types of diseases such as cancer.

Can a Chiropractor Help?

A chiropractor is a health professional skilled in treating any form of joint, bone, or muscle pain. A licensed chiropractor manipulates body joints and muscles with the help of special tools and manipulates joint and spinal to adjust and correct the body's alignment, which can help alleviate muscle pain.

When the vertebra is misaligned, nervous system impulses are interrupted and can cause joint and muscle pain, and can even affect your overall health. In cases such as this, the chiropractor will usually start with the atlas technique, which targets the bone at the top of the spine, the “atlas,” and is known to trigger various areas of pain throughout the body. In fact, there is some indication that this technique could address various pain and health conditions such as autism, sciatica, and migraines.

Muscle Stiffness Vs. Muscle Pain

While finding the appropriate remedy is the ultimate objective for everyone, differentiating muscle stiffness and pain can help you identify the trigger so you can take the necessary measures for relief. One of the key aspects that distinguishes muscle stiffness from pain is the duration and intensity.

Muscle stiffness is usually caused by physical activity and makes the area tender to touch and may burn slightly but typically only hurts when using the muscle and only lasts a few days at most.

Actual muscle pain lasts a lot longer, isn’t always a result of physical stress, and the pain is persistent and even occurs when at rest. The associated pain with the affected areas can be burning, sharp, tender, tight, and just downright painful no matter what you do. Additionally, muscle pain can actually result in lower productivity and your overall quality of life

If you’re suffering from constant muscle pain or even stiffness that is a bit unbearable, you should seek help from a chiropractor. They can help ascertain the pain trigger and treat it as necessary. Which can include adjustment via the atlas technique, rehabilitation, physical therapy, exercise, or a controlled diet to enhance a healthy and active life.

Millions of people suffer from persistent muscle pain and the fact is, you don’t necessarily have to.