Are you tired of that nagging pain on the left side of your lower back disrupting your day?
You're not alone.
Left side low back pain is more common than you might think! It can also turn even the simplest tasks into a challenge. But don't worry—understanding the causes of this condition and hearing our helpful solutions can help you get back to living your life pain-free. Join us as we dive into the mysteries of left side low back pain and discover practical tips to ease your discomfort and regain your mobility.
Left Side Low Back Pain Can Be Scary If You Don't Know What's Behind It
Pain is both debilitating and worrisome. Left side low back pain often starts small but then it has a tendency to escalate, leaving people with questions about its cause, duration, and severity.
In this blog we will take a look at some key questions around this condition and answer things like:
How long will it last?
How serious is it?
If you want to scroll all the way to the end we've included a new clinical study that looks at how low back pain can be affected by how we walk. This could be a new reason for why you get back pain on one particular side. Interested to learn more? Let's take a look!
Causes Of Left Side Low Back Pain
It could be something that starts off as a simple sharp stitch on the left side of your back but then it slowly grows worse with each day that passes.
A common question that gets asked about low back pain relates to back pain on the left side. In this blog we take a look at some of the most common questions around this condition and explore some of the causes of left side low back pain.
The most common cause of low back pain on the left side is a muscle strain. Other causes include:
4 Most Common Types Of Chronic Pain
When it comes to pain the four most common types of chronic pain that people experience are back pain, headaches, joint pain and nerve pain.
Doctors generally advise us to avoid Googling our symptoms. ChatGPT has come a long way but when you are experiencing acute pain that isn’t going away, it can be almost too hard to resist.
How do you know if it is just back pain, or if it is something more serious? Let's find out.
How Serious Is Low Back Pain?
Back pain is a common occurrence in the US (and the world in general) with more than 80% of the population experiencing it at some point in their lives.
Back pain can radiate from bones, muscles, ligaments, joints, or many other parts of the body. Everything from our posture and activity levels to diet and obesity can contribute to our experience of low back pain.
But when the pain is located specifically on one side of your body, you might start to wonder if it is just low back pain, or if it might be something more serious?
The good news is that one-sided back pain is actually a fairly common issue, but it can have some very different causes. Some causes are more serious than others and should definitely be checked out by your healthcare provider. Let's explore some of the most common issues.
Causes Of Left-Side Low Back Pain
When it comes to lower left back pain the most common causes are:
Soft tissue damage of muscles or ligaments that support the spine
Injury to the spinal column, like the discs or facet joints
Internal organ issues such as the kidneys, reproductive organs, or the intestines.
1. Soft Tissue Damage
Most episodes of acute lower back pain are caused by damage to your soft tissues, such as the muscles and/or ligaments that support your lumbar spine. These episodes can occur after injuries such as falls from a ladder, a car accident, or a sports injury.
Muscle strains and sprains can also be caused by poor posture, especially if you spend a big part of your day sitting in the wrong position. Leaning a little too much to the left? That could be your answer right there!
Typically soft tissue injuries, or sprains, cause pain in the middle of the spine, but they can lead to pain that is specific to either the left hand side of the back, or the right hand side.
Muscle strains typically occur when the fibers in your muscles get overstretched, leading to inflammation. This over-stretching is actually the leading cause of low back pain on the left side of people's bodies.
Symptoms of soft tissue damage include:
Limited range of motion
Stiffness
Muscle spasms
Tenderness or swelling of the affected area
Pain that gets worse after sitting or getting out of bed
Pain that improves with rest, ice or NSAIDs
Treatments for soft tissue damage:
Mechanical stimulation/ massage
Topical pain relievers
2. Slipped Discs
A slipped disc (also known as a herniated disc) can cause pain that radiates from the central spine to one side of the back or the other. The bones in the spine are cushioned by small discs that have a firm outside and a liquid inside which acts as a barrier between each bone.
A slipped disc occurs when fragments of the inside gel push through tiny tears in the outside of the disc. This gel-like material ends up pressing on the nerves, causing pain. Slipped discs can also develop over time because of general wear and tear, or they can be caused by something more sudden like an injury.
Symptoms Of A Slipped Disc:
Tingling down one leg
Pain that gets worse when you walk
Pain on one specific side of the body.
Treatments For A Slipped Disc:
1–2 days of bed rest
NSAIDs
3. Internal Organ Issues
When it comes to low back pain, specifically on one side of your body, internal organs might not be the first thing that comes to mind. Organs like your kidneys, pancreas, colon and uterus can become infected, irritated or inflamed, causing sensations of pain in your back.
Kidney infections, kidney stones, pancreatitis, ulcerative colitis or fibroids, can all cause pain that radiates down your back. Typically these conditions are easier to distinguish from general low back pain as they are often accompanied by other symptoms.
Symptoms of organ issues can include:
Fever
Nausea
Abdominal pain
Fatigue
Treatments:
A proper diagnosis is required for internal organ issues. Treatments can range from an easy round of antibiotics to more serious surgical interventions.
If you suspect that your low back pain could be due to one of these conditions, consulting with your healthcare provider is a must. They will be able to refer you for further testing, if required, or to see a specialist for your condition.
Emergency Symptoms
Although it is quite rare, sometimes low back pain can be accompanied by other symptoms which can indicate something much more serious. Emergency symptoms that cause back pain aren’t always associated with your back.
They could be signs of something else that is not related. If you suspect that something else is going on, rather than just regular low back pain, do not hesitate in getting to the emergency room.
You should also head straight to the emergency room if you experience any of the following symptoms/ red flags:
Nausea
Vomiting
Shortness of breath
Dizziness
Confusion
Tingling in your lower body
Unusual weakness in your lower body
Fever
Chills
Blood in your urine
Painful urination
New Update! How The Way You Walk Can Impact Your Back
A recent study published in the Journal of Sports Health Science looked at an important question: Do people with low back pain walk differently?
The authors J. Smith and H. Stabbert conducted a systematic review of important clinical studies to see if there were any trends in back pain affecting their walk. The authors reviewed 97 different clinical trials. The authors made sure that there were no differences in the running mechanics between the different groups.
Overall, individuals with low back pain often walk differently to those who don't have low back pain. Is this because of the walking or because of the back pain? Do you favor one side over the other?
Something interesting that the researchers found in several of the studies was that "
fear avoidance and pain anticipation significantly predicted reduced walking speed in individuals with persistent LBP".
What the authors did conclude was that people with low back pain walk differently and this could place more pain on one side of the body than the other. More research needs to be done, though, to see if the walk or the pain comes first.
Conclusions
As you can see, pain in your lower left back can have quite a few different causes, and the treatments can vary widely. This makes getting an accurate diagnosis even more important.
Your local emergency room or healthcare provider can perform a physical exam, take a full medical history and do a thorough review of your symptoms before making an official diagnosis. They can also refer you for further diagnostic tests if they think those will be helpful.
The good news is that most cases of low left back pain are due to strains and sprains that can heal themselves fairly quickly with some minimal interventions.
Always trust your instincts, though, and if you suspect that you have any other concerning symptoms that are accompanying your back pain, then definitely seek medical attention.