I've been on a low dose of T for about a month now. I've noticed that a few hours after I do my shot, the area around the injection site will be sore but then over the course of the next few days the pain travels and sort of spreads out.

For example, I inject into my quad muscle about 8 inches back from my knee. With my most recent shot a few days ago the pain stayed pretty localised to where I did the injection but now my muscle is sore right by my knee. It's not an extreme pain but sometimes it is sore if I do things like kneel down or bend my leg.

I was just wondering if this is normal. I'll talk to my doctor about it too of course but haven't been able to get a hold of her yet thanks to my work schedule so I figured I would post my question here too.

Also, I always aspirated before I inject. It almost seems like the T is spreading through the muscle and that's what's making it sore if that makes any sense.

I'd say with IM shots, muscle pain is to be expected. I had terrible experiences with injecting into my thigh (a nurse did it, though), my leg was in so much pain for couple days that I could barely walk. Thus, I take needles into my butt these days and have had no problems since.

Anywho, I've been told the reason for the pain is because the T kinda forms this "pocket" inside the muscle and there really isn't room for it. T sort of forcefully makes room for itself, causing pain in the muscle. Apparently because of this, the bigger the muscle, the less there's pain since there's more room. I suppose.
Dunno if that made any sense, it's a bit hard to explain.

I think that's totally normal. I do my shots the same way and I always expect soreness. Been on T for 10 months

It may seem normal, or expected, but I would try other areas that give you less pain.  I have found over the years that I have the best luck injecting about a hand's length south of my pelvic crest and just a bit to the outer side.  Though it is a little tough to reach my glutes, I sometimes inject there with minimal pain. I also have experienced NO pain injecting into my left deltoid, though it kind of creeps me out for some reason  .  I would say that with MOST of my injections over the past 5 years, there has been little or no pain, except for the occasional anomaly...  Rotate injection sites and see if you find some less painful areas.  It is helpful to really relax the muscle into which you inject.

I've never had a T shot but I've had more shots than I can remember for all sorts of things (yup, even had a rabies shot once, so I can safely say I'm rabies-free ) and every shot injected into muscle aches after, and the volume of the shot seems to correlate with how long the ache/pain lasts. I think it's just a symptom of the fact the fluid has been forced into and between the muscle fibers and does eventually spread itself out and become absorbed.

I usually have soreness for a day or two. The last time I did my shot (actually due for another today) I hit a nerve in my thigh and it ached for a solid three days. Not enough to stop me from walking but enough that my muscles let me know "dude, freaking stabbed me, why are you doing this to us?"

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That was pretty much my experience for the first eight months or so on T. I'd be sore, the muscle would just feel tense, and I'd feel very limited. It was not uncommon for me to have a slight limp the day after my shot. The solution I stumbled upon was exercise. I was terribly lazy the first eight months I was on T and wasn't doing much, if anything, in the form of exercise. When I decided to have bottom surgery and wanted to lose weight, I started alternating cardio and lifting every day.

If I go for a run on the day of my shot and go to the gym and do legs the day after, I have no pain whatsoever - not in the muscle or on the surface level. I'm not sure what it is about that routine that helps, but I could never go back to being sore for up to 3 days after the fact if it means I just have to run a few miles and lift a few heavy things.

As far as technique for shots goes - I alternate legs, I pinch/gather about an inch of skin instead of flattening it like some people do, I do not aspirate, and I usually end up injecting somewhere between 5-8" up from the knee, if that helps.

I was told (where, I don't recall) that pain can be caused by having contracted muscles when you inject. I had a really bad injection that lasted for days. The next week I used deep breathing relaxation techniques and there was no pain at all.

If your muscles are very contracted all the time and won't relax you could be low in Potassium and Magnesium. American diets are high in Calcium and Sodium ions (which help muscles contract) and low in Mg and K ions (which help them release). If you are getting muscle cramps you definitely have an imbalance.

sometimes I get sore the next day and have muscle spasms in that area.

I did have soreness when I injected my thigh which is why I now inject in my butt.  I know people talk about the dangers of the nerve running there, but I had a nurse teach me how to avoid it.  I find it much more comfortable as any soreness lasts maybe half an hour to an hour TOPS.

Hi All, when I started on T I had no pain on injection or afterwards but I changed from T cyp to T ethanate and each time I injected I had pain which lasted about 36 hours. I went back to T cyp and the pain was gone. After talking with a cis friend he said that some people react to the carrying oil that's used in the T. Perhaps this is the issue? When it first happened I tried warming up the muscle and the T followed by a massage to the muscle but none of that helped.

Yes, it's due to the Benzyl Alcohol. It tends to 'travel' down towards the knee if administered in the thigh/vastus. It's perfectly normal. I found that completely relaxing the leg first helps to mitigate it (when I inject in the leg, I sit on the edge of the couch and kind of angle myself sideways so I can COMPLETELY relax it first; that and kind of grabbing it firmly with the other hand, to prevent it from seizing up on its own when stuck, really helps). The more relaxed the muscle, the slower the T is plunged (say about 5 seconds per 0.1 line by volume), the less soreness there will be.

Interestingly, I've never had it 'travel' from glute, at least not that I've ever noticed. But then, there are quite a fair few less of nerves back there than in the leg, so perhaps it does and I just can't feel it lol.

P.S. It might help to try injecting a bit higher up from your knee. The sweet spot is about the middle (between knee and hip; not center-top - you'd then have soreness constantly while walking and nobody needs that lol).

Thanks guys, I'll try the suggestions. I do stand and walk a lot for work so that probably only made it worse but I have a feeling my muscle wasn't completely relaxed when I did my last shot too. The T is definitely is taking its time absorbing but I'm glad to hear that's normal.

I'm going to be doing my next shot in a few days here so I'll see what happens after that one.