Left Side Back Pain Resulting from a Strained Muscle

“I have left side back pain.” “My lower back hurts sometimes.” “I think something is wrong with my back.”

Do these words ring familiar? After we reach a certain age, we spend more and more time discussing our ever increasing ailments. This is a fact of aging. And, as you may have noticed, one of the leading topics of conversation is the back.

Many cases of back discomfort can be blamed on attrition. Others are related to poor posture and weakening of muscles and bones. The back does a lot of work, supports a large portion of the body’s weight and absorbs shock. It is no surprise that most people will have some sort of pain in this area during their lifetime.

Specific discomfort, such as left side back pain may be associated with an injury. We all know we are supposed to bend our knees when we lift, but do we always follow this cautionary rule. Many mishaps could be avoided if more people did heed this advice.

Okay, let’s say you strained a muscle in your back. What can you do at home to help the situation?

With a muscle strain, the blood vessels are often torn leading to bleeding into the muscle and there will probably be swelling. The best way to manage these two conditions is to head to the freezer and get your hands on some ice (frozen bags of vegetables work well too) and make an ice pack to apply to the injury. Instead of putting the ice directly on the skin, use a towel as a protective barrier between skin and ice pack.

People get confused and forget whether they should apply heat, ice or both. Initial application of heat will likely lead to increased swelling, so go with ice for starters and get control of the swelling first.

Unless you have experienced a severe strain requiring medical attention, the ice coupled with rest should have you feeling better before long.