Low Back Pain On The Right Side - What Does It Mean?

Low back pain can be annoying, but it can also be extremely painful and feel super serious. Sometimes the pain can be just a dull ache while at other times it can feel like someone has stabbed you in the side!

Pain can also radiate throughout your body, spreading from one location to another making it hard to identify the cause of things or to know what is really going on in your body. One example of this is back pain that feels like it is specific to your right side.

When it comes to back pain that is specific to the right side of your body, there are quite a few different things that could be causing it. Not only are sprains and strains common, but your kidneys are also located on this side of the body and their nerves are connected to the nerves attached to the ligaments and tissues in your back. This means that if your kidneys are hurting, it could feel like your back hurts, rather than a specific pain in your kidneys.

There are actually quite a few important organs that are located on the lower right hand side of your body. Some of these are:

Generally, the causes of pain in your lower right hand side can be divided into two different categories:

The term “mechanical” usually refers to problems with the tissues and bones found in your back. This could be things like torn or stretched ligaments, tendons, or muscles. It can also induce more serious conditions such as:

Underlying conditions that can affect low back pain generally involve your internal organs and include diseases like:

Women can sometimes have unique issues when it comes to having pain on your right hand side. Pregnancy is one condition that commonly causes pain on your right hand side. UTIs and other conditions that affect the reproductive organs can also cause significant pain.

If you are a female and you have pain on your right side that is intense, has red flags with it, or hasn’t gone away on its own after a few days or weeks, you should definitely see your healthcare provider to make sure that nothing is going on that requires immediate medical attention.

While it is always a good idea to speak with your healthcare provider if your back pain feels serious or if it isn’t getting better after a few weeks, there are a few things to pay special attention to. If there are any red flags present such as a fever, a history of cancer, or numbness, you should definitely speak with your healthcare provider right away.

If your pain starts to extend to your arms, forearms, or hands, the cause of the pain might be in your cervical spine. Alternatively, pain that radiates down your legs may indicate an issue with your lumbar spine.

Back pain is notoriously hard to treat and therefore it is often even harder to predict how long it will last. Back pain that happens because of a strain or sprain can last just a few days while something like kidney stones may take longer. If your pain is due to disk degeneration it might be more chronic and need long term care.

Treatment for low back pain should be individualized based on the cause of the pain and its origins. There are many different types of treatment for low back pain so knowing as much as you can about your condition can help your healthcare provider customize your treatment as much as possible. Some treatments can include the following:

Once you are sure that there isn’t anything medically more serious happening, there are some at-home treatments that are available for pain on your right hand side. Some treatments include:

Back pain can sometimes be an indication that something more serious is going on with your body. As we mentioned before, if there are any red flags present, like a fever, unexplained weight loss, a history of cancer, or any type of trauma, you should definitely call 911, go to the emergency department, or make an immediate appointment with your primary care provider.

While back pain can be serious and scary, most cases of low back pain will resolve on their own within a few weeks. That being said, when low back pain is focused on one specific side of the body it can be an indication that something else might be wrong.

With so many important internal organs being located on the right hand side it is important to see your healthcare provider to make sure that there are no other infections or conditions happening and if there are, to make sure that you can get immediate treatment for that.