Muscle pain or soreness often occurs when you start to stress your muscles during workouts, like during an exercise, when the fibers of the muscles start to break down, which can cause muscle pain or soreness to occur. However, this pain is a communication key letting you know that the fibers are working to repair themselves to become much healthier and stronger. However, muscle pain does not always mean that these fibers are getting healthier or stronger. Muscle pain can also mean you may have overstrained the muscles, which could have torn the fibers. If they tear abruptly, it can cause serious pain and injuries. This particular type of strain is quite common in our patient's lower back and shoulders. Disc pain can be caused when the spinal disc slips out of its intended place, which can cause discomfort and a lot of pain. Often, this can occur due to aging, or even heavy lifting. The difference between muscle pain and disc pain is where the pain is located within the back. If you have a spinal disc injury, it is located at the bottom of the back, if you are noticing more pain in your lower back, many will assume it is a slipped disc. Muscle pain often feels like a tingly sensation. To know for sure which pain you are dealing with, consulting a low back pain specialist like at InovoSpine in Houston, TX will help, as we can use techniques, and technology to help better understand the type of back you are suffering from.