Last week, I shared a video in which I offered my thoughts on pain you might have during exercise or sports. I tried to explain the signs you might look for to know if your injury could be serious. In this tip, I want to go one step further. How can you know if you should see a doctor for an injury? Is 24 hours after injury too soon? Is one week or six weeks long enough to wait? Is there a better way to decide than the time from injury?

On one hand, the decision to have your injury checked out could be easy. Obviously if you can’t play or train at all, you should go to the doctor.

In this video, I discuss how active people – how you – can decide if that nagging pain that isn’t bad enough to shut you down but it is keeping you from performing at your peak deserves a visit to your doctor or an orthopedic surgeon. I offer examples of runners, people who lift weights, and kids and adults who play sports using this framework.

Watch the video and decide if you should have your aches and pains checked out!