Sounds like you did the right thing. You have to be able to differentiate between pain and soreness. If you have pain you shouldn't continue what you are doing that causes/exacerbates the pain even if its mild(unless you are in the middle of a race or whatever). That's how people develop chronic issues in joints, and/or pain and weakness in specific muscles, which can lead to guarding in other muscles or stress on supporting structures. Cases of mild inflammation are easily fixed with a few days rest, ice and compression, followed by a few weeks of warming up the tissues before exercise, stretching, and then exercising into your routine. I can tell you from clinical experience that even "fit" people who run, lift, or engage in an overabundance of one exercise type exclusively, are going to develop musculoskeletal dysfunctions along the way. You just have to recognize the type of pain you have, and allow your body time to heal it, but not too long so that you become deconditioned. Length of recovery obviously depends on the level of trauma, age, genetics, etc....
