Kickboxing sometimes hurts. It's a sport that involves both rigorous workouts and being punched and kicked by people who know how. Qualified coaches, the rules of the sport and safety equipment minimize the risk for severe injury -- but you're going to get dings and experience muscle pain. Often, the muscle pain is an unavoidable part of training in such a demanding sport. However, it can also be a sign of more serious problems.
Muscle Fatigue
If you experience pain in muscles you are working out in kickboxing, while you're working them out, the most likely explanation is simple muscle fatigue. As you exercise muscles, you suffer microscopic tears in the muscle fiber. Repairing those muscles is an essential part of gaining strength. Don't worry too much about this pain. Except under extraordinary circumstances, your muscle will fail to contract from the fatigue before you can hurt yourself seriously with this kind of pain.
Late-onset Soreness
The muscle-tearing and building process can result in a condition called "late-onset soreness." This is that reduced range of motion and achy soreness in muscles you experience in the days following a major workout. As with muscle fatigue pain, this is normal and expected. You can alleviate the pain and speed up healing by icing the sore areas and taking over-the-counter pain medications.
Impact Injuries
If you kickbox, you'll get hit. Sometimes, those hits leave bruises and "charlie horse" cramps in your muscles. These can be painful, but are rarely serious. Ice the injury for bruises, and massage out charlie horses. In the days following the impact, monitor the sore muscle. If the bruise spreads after the first few days, or if either kind of injury hurts so much that it interferes with your ability to walk, check with your doctor.
Whiplash
Whiplash is most commonly associated with the impact of a car crash, but a kick or punch to the head can cause similar damage. Muscle pain from whiplash can affect your neck, head, shoulders and upper back. Whiplash can be debilitating, and accompanied by more serious problems. You should always go to the doctor if your muscle pain is from a whiplash-type injury.
Warning Signs
Normal muscle pain is part of kickboxing. In fact, the lack of occasional sore muscles is a surer sign that you're doing something wrong than the presence of that pain. However, muscle soreness should always be dull, throbbing and achy. If the pain is shooting, or intensifies when you bend a joint, or accompanied by numbness or tingling, check with your doctor to make certain you don't have a more serious injury.
References
- "The Sports Injury Handbook"; Dr. Christer Rolf; 2011
- MayoClinic.com: Whiplash
