Left Side Back Pain

Written by    Friday, 05 September 2008

All You Need to Know about Left Side Back Pain A lot of Americans feel back pain in one point of their lives. Whether you work physical labor or you sit in front of the computer all the time, one is bound to feel back pain in some certain moment. Some just slap on some medicated patch and poof, they are good to go. Some would actually need to take some time off to rest their backs. And the most common back pain is the lower left side back pain. This lower left side back pain can be due to straining of your muscles, it may be because you did some heavy lifting at home or you may just have a very poor posture that caused the area to weaken. Lower left side back pain may also be due to arthritis, when the joints of your lower back area get inflamed and they deteriorate. It may also be due to the fact that the discs on that area have weakened. For more serious cases, this left side back pain may be due to a herniated disc. A herniated disc means that the disc material in your back is protruding and is causing harmful pressure in the root nerve. But usually, a left side back pain is mainly, as mentioned, due to muscular straining. So if it is bearable and it does not cause you to miss out on work, then you may just want to rest for a couple of days. For muscular strains, here are some quick tips that you can use. 1. Take some mefenamic acid and anti inflammatory drugs like Advil to soothe the muscle pain. Ibuprofen also works wonders but be wary of using these if you have kidney problems. 2. Get a firm bed or a posture enhancing office chair as this will make your lumbar region become better. 3. Constant exercises so that the muscles do not degenerate. Ask for help from a chiropractor or your health care provider. It is best to stretch your back first before doing any exercises as immediate exercise without proper stretching can do more damage than relief. 4. Ask your masseuse to put on some eucalyptus oil on your lower back as this will send up some radiating cooling effect on your painful area. Then ask her to apply some light to moderate pressure on your back. 5. An ice pack or a heat pack will also make you feel a whole lot better. Lie on the ice pack or lie on your stomach and place the ice pack behind you. If you are not too tolerant of cold, a heat pack will serve the same purpose. 6. Get an Epsom salt bath. Epsom salts are known to be anti inflammatory and they are very easy to use. Just fill up your tub with warm water, add two cups of salts and soak in it for thirty minutes or more. If you want you can read a book while soaking as you can also make this your resting time.