I had this when I was at my old working place ( nurse for elderly care) after every shift. Went on a hiatus on nursing for a year . Now, I work in an intensive care unit with 9 people total living here, with tracheostoma. I have to take care of 3 people in a 12 hour shift. No more sore muscles!

anyone working 8 hours on their feet, even with a lunch break, is gonna be sore. presumably, you're pulling 12 hour or longer shifts. i am not a nurse, nor do i have one handy to ask for you, but it would be unrealistic to expect to not be sore after that.

Depends on the nursing job. A diagnostic nursing unit is a lot of just monitoring while the patients camp out. Mostly it's not a lot of physical work.

Not a nurse but I worked a lot of manual labor jobs that had me on my feet moving all day (e.g., home renovation work) and I can say that your body eventually gets used to that kind of work and the soreness becomes a persistent dull ache that honestly isn’t bad. Kinda like if you just work out daily.

Nursing may be different, and my experience may not apply, but I would think that you will get used to it.

Honestly the only thing I never got used to was standing in one place at retail work. Standing all day in the same spot is not natural and the body rejects it.

Friend works in a pet shop, and other than being able to briefly sit down during she's 100% on her feet. I have no clue how people survive it, huge respect. You get used to it of course, but it seems normal to be sore for the first year or so.

How long is a normal shift?

My girlfriend is a nurse. 7-7 shifts, days and nights, it alternates.

She's gotten used to it, isn't sore from the work anymore. Make sure you have good shoes. Do some research, ask your coworkers - having the right shoes makes a big difference when you're on your feet for 13-14 hours straight. Add some electrolytes to your water bottle. Doesn't need to be high in sugar unless you also aren't eating much too. Moving and standing and being active all day takes energy and hydration. Having some simple electrolytes and enough calories will also make a huge difference in how you feel at the end of the day. You're basically on a 12 hour hike every shift.