Lower Left Back Pain - Should You Visit Your Doctor?

80 per cent of Americans have experienced lower back pain at some point in their lives, so if you're reading this article with back pain, you're amongst the majority. Lower left back pain as with many other back related pain is difficult to diagnose, as there are many different causes, from a muscular injury to more serious life threatening conditions that may require surgery.If you consider your back pain to be chronic, long lasting, has no apparent cause that you know of, or is significantly limiting your ability to do the things that you would normally do, you should immediately see your doctor to eliminate any serious causes. Although lower left back pain is a common problem, is are many other back pains, a large number of people do nothing about it, it could be something as simple as a muscular injury that starts it and requires only stretching to sort out, or could be something more severe in which case it should be seen to as soon as possible.

The diagnosis for pain in the lower left back may be different to that from pains in other areas of the back, and there are many causes of lower left back pain, so do not get frustrated if the doctor does not reach a diagnosis immediately. It takes a process of elimination, including finding if a similar situation exists on the right hand side of the back, as this narrows down the causes. The treatments offered by your doctor will follow this process of elimination, based upon the symptoms that your report, and their expertise.

Lower left back pain has two common areas that cause issues broadly speaking; these are gastrointestinal issues, and kidney issues. Lower left back pain may be felt is the gastrointestinal tract in the left of the body has issues, such as bleeding, ulcers, cancer and so on. Kidney issues, such as kidney stones of a kidney inflammation due to an infection could also cause pain in the lower left of the back. Appendicitis can also cause lower left back pain, even though the appendix is located on the right hand side of the body - this could be due to the infection that caused the appendicitis, the swelling which can displace the balance of the body, and nerve may also be impacted that cause the left side of the back to be affected by pain.
A much more common cause of pain in the lower left of the back is due to a muscular injury, such as a muscular strain, which may get better on its own, or may require stretching and exercise to rebalance the muscles of the body. It is likely though if an injury occurred that it was because of a weakness in that area of the body, which could have been caused by bad posture or bad form when exercising. On this basis it is an excellent idea to ensure that you stretch and strengthen the back to ensure that it goes beyond just healing, and actually becomes more resilient to injury in the future.

Seeing a doctor is really important especially pain that is severe, or you have had for a long time, and through consultation with your doctor will eliminate the more serious causes of lower left back pain. Ensure that you give your doctor as much detail as possible whilst in the consultation, as they will be better able to provide a diagnosis, or eliminate more causes this way. If there is a family history of issues of this sort, that is an important consideration that you must tell your doctor. Try to remember when the pain occurred, and on a scale of 1 - 10, 10 being the worst, how bad the pain was, and how long it lasted. Keep a diary if you need to, but do not spend a long time documenting, when instead you could solve the problem of the pain in your back with your doctor.

Yoga Can Relieve Back Pain

Yoga Can Relieve Back Pain

Back muscles are hurt easily and often result in extreme pain for an individual. The lower back is particularly susceptible to pulled or sprained muscles. Yoga can be an effective exercise solution for back problems sufferers. Even those who regularly endure intense back pain can benefit from yoga's low-impact style.

Though back problems can occur in people of any age, they often become especially common once people are in their mid-30s to early 40s. Many people opt to visit a doctor for chronic back problems, and end up taking several prescription drugs to manage the pain. However, others choose to avail themselves of alternative medicine and treatment options before committing to a prescription drug regimen. Yoga is a treatment method that is frequently recommended by alternative practitioners.

Back pain can be the result of a number of causes, regardless of your age. Back pain's catalysts are widely varied. For instance, sitting at a desk slumped over a computer screen for hours each day is a common cause It can also, though, result in extremely active people who overwork their back muscles with intensive exercise.

Although almost everyone suffers from back problems at one point or another, it is essential to treat the affliction immediately if it becomes a frequent issue and disrupts your daily life. Intense back problems can result from such ailments as a herniated disc or a narrow spinal canal. Spinal tumors are generally the most deadly cause of constant back pain. Because all of these issues can cause long-term health problems, it is important to see your physician if you have back problems that lasts for more than a day or two.

Be sure to clear regular yoga routines with your doctor before beginning, though it is typically a good way to keep back problems at a manageable level without prescriptions pain medications. Lower back problems can be especially challenging to eliminate, but yoga often serves to eradicate pain even in this difficult area of the body. Yoga encourages proper breathing and stretching, both of which aid back pain sufferers. A number of back pain sufferers notice a reduction in their pain levels after only one or two yoga sessions.

Though there are multiple yoga poses that will aid in relieving back pain, the cat stretch is often especially effective. In the cat stretch pose, an individual must put his or her hands and knees on the ground while keeping the back in a straight line. The back is then arched, as a cat does, while the individual breaths in and out several times.

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Basic steps To get rid of Your Lower back pain

Most people experience at least one bout of lower back pain in their lives, but for some, lower back pain becomes a chronic condition. Research indicates that most back pain goes away completely inside a couple weeks whatever the treatment provided. However, you can find items that can be done to ease back pain in the interim.

Lift from your knees. Many people who suffer from lower back pain do so from poor lifting techniques. If you are going to carry heavy loads, ensure that you keep your back straight and lift from the knees and legs instead. You can avoid lots of pain by simply making sure to lift things properly.

Placing moist heat on the effected part of your back will help to you manage your pain. This technique has been utilized for quite some time and contains shown to be quite useful when you are the control over pain suffered in many parts of the body. Put it on right to skin as well as the tension needs to be reduced.

It is crucial that you may not sleep within the same position each night should you suffer from lumbar pain. By sleeping in the identical position for hours, you are allowing your spine to stiffen up which could cause lumbar pain. Be sure that you replace your mattress and pillow regularly.

High stress and fast-paced living can simply result in both acute and chronic back pain. Too, you should alleviate stress and be mindful of different surroundings and practices, especially if you currently have been experiencing lower back pain. While life moves fast and mental stress is hardly unavoidable, you will need to pay attention to approaches to improve your way of life.

That painful tightening within your upper back may be the consequence of sitting at the computer too much time. Stand up and get moving. Walk around gently shaking your arms. Stretch carefully to try and loosen the muscles. Also, you are able to sit inside your chair and bend forward at the waist and breathe deeply.

Obtain a bag, purse or backpack having a long strap that may be worn on the opposite shoulder because the item. This enables the body weight from the bag to be distributed more evenly across each side of your body. It may also help keep your shoulders aligned, which assists keep your back from injury.

Vitamin D and Calcium should be an everyday section of your daily diet, if you want to avoid lower back pain. Insufficient these important vitamins and minerals could cause your bones to become depleted. When this occurs, it makes sense deterioration, and this can quickly become back pain. Eat calcium enriched foods, get some sunlight, and have a supplement if required. Your back will thank you.

Whenever you hurt your back, usually hamstring stretches may be very useful. When the muscles being worn by your thighs are tight, they are able to usually cause your spine to get a great deal of unnecessary stress and pain. You should stretch your hamstring muscles at least 2 times a day for 45 seconds at any given time.

To avoid lower back pain, when you are sitting your desk, don't slump! Mind your posture all the time. Keep the back straight, you on to the floor one slightly prior to the other, and your elbows at the sides while you type. You should always be neither looking down nor craning your neck to talk to your computer screen.

Back pain may be nagging or excruciating, and will hinder every aspect of someonerrrs life. Various treatments are accessible to help alleviate the pain sensation, including lifestyle adjustments, exercises, oral and topical pain-killer, physical rehabilitation, chiropractic adjustments and acupuncture. When lower back pain strikes, the aforementioned tips can help provide relief.

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7 Lower Back Pain Relief Tips

Easy conscious movements allows our brain to change painful signals into more pleasurable lower back pain relief. Changing the message happens when we use our brain’s motor cortex to reset tension levels the way healthy animals do in nature.

Our cats and dogs have the know how to move well. We’ve systematized the process they use through somatics exercises. These are very gentle movements which gets the brain to unlock held tension and releases stiffness for lower back pain relief.

Animals use their nervous system to set up the muscles for good movement. Instead of stretching, which they appear to do, they actually consciously contract and then let go.

While this may sound counterintuitive, we did this very same thing in our mother’s womb. Along our merry way, we forgot how to do the very thing which gave us our coordination patterns for successful movement and the self know how for lower back pain relief.

Once we learn a move, we move on, even if it is one which continues to hurt us. When we remind ourself how to easily self-correct, we get all the lower back relief we can take.

Here are 7 easy lower back pain relief tips to help you get your back on track.

1. Use it consciously or lose it unconsciously over time.

To get lower back pain relief, we can use the spine more consciously with our internal awareness instead of using the back unconsciously and not paying attention to it.

Merely honing in on the present feelings of your spine while your doing an activity begins the process of lower back pain relief. Really feel your whole spine from bottom to top and top to bottom when you move.

As you move, feel both sides of your back. Does your left side or your right feel different or the same? When you feel your spine, can you feel the front side of it, the side closer inside of you?

2. Move your back in a number of directions.

Lower back pain lets go more quickly when we vary the degree of movement. It doesn’t have to be a big move, a tiny move will do the job towards regaining greater levels of function and lower back pain relief.

If we consciously and gently curl our spine, extend it, twist it or learn backwards or forwards, this easy reminder enlivens the joints of the spine.

3. Sitting for too long is a killer.

Sitting for too long gets the muscles to brace and stay contracted. This can pull your back forward, backwards or sideways depending on how we sit unconsciously.

We can actually reinforce patterns which robs the spine of its mobility. Gradually we lose our flexibility over time. Lower back pain relief happens when we get up and stand periodically. 20 minutes is the max if you can help it. Stand for a minute or so and then sit back down if you need to.

4. Wake-up the back with gentle mobilizations.

Lower back relief happens with gentle movements to remind the spine of its various functions and its capacity to be used when you want it.

To get a supple back is to move simply. Without strain, difficulty, effort or pushing it. To be fluid takes the least amount of effort though it may take some conscious awareness not to hoist ourself around.

Staying in the flow is not challenging work, it’s quite the opposite and gives the lower back relief.

5. Update our movement software for lower back pain relief.

Much like a computer which gets a bug and its performance is robbed. Moving effortlessly and consciously, we change the software of the brain. This way, the hardware of the bones moves more freely.

We can get the kinks out sooner rather than later by rebooting the brain’s cortex to reset muscles and joints back to mobility and natural flexibility.

6. Flossing the back joints.

Our spine is a series of joints. To take the plaque out and any restrictions, we gently mobilize in a number of angles to get the lower back pain relief we desire.

Growths in the spine happens when we immobilize ourself over time. When the brain sees this, it begins to make tighter connections.

We can gently break up rigid muscles and become more supple on the way to regaining flexibility.

7. Move and breathe.

This might sound easy, yet how many of us brace our muscles as we use them.

Try this. Don’t breathe as you move your spine about. Notice the level of effort that it takes.

Play with your breath consciously and add in a further level of difference. This level up of consciousness leads to more dexterity and easier mobility.

Nature’s code is simple. Pay attention to how you move by feeling what it takes to do so. As you let go, feel how your body does it. Then wait a moment and notice any lingering sensations.

Healthy animals un-lock the code of stiffness and discomfort with conscious awareness. This method is at the heart of somatics exercises where lower back relief comes easy with a little animal know-how we’ve forgotten to tap into.

Once we remember our natural way to get the back on track, we move easily again and again.

Why Back Pain is So Hard to Treat

Low back pain is an epidemic in the U.S. and more than 80% of people worldwide will suffer from low back pain some time during their lives. Widespread suffering from back pain is a new problem; never before in history has there been mention of millions of people suffering from the same pain syndrome. Western medicine would have us all believing that our discs are the problem, but the proof is lacking.

Our bodies are designed to heal without chronic pain, and our backs are no exception. Several studies of people with no symptoms have shown that spinal abnormalities, such as herniated discs and stenosis of the spinal canal are not in themselves indicative of pain. Many patients, being told that their herniated discs are the source of their pain, opt for surgery as a last resort. Failed back surgeries are common; surgery on herniated discs does not necessarily eliminate the pain and many patients find that they are still in pain, sometimes much worse pain, after surgery.

The problem goes all the way back to the diagnosis - most doctors believe that low back pain is caused by herniated discs, pinched nerves, or other physical problems, however, nothing could be farther from the truth. One doctor proved that 88% of back pain patients can quickly and easily heal themselves using their minds alone. Dr. John Sarno, a back specialist, discovered that most chronic back pain is caused not by physical injuries or malformations, but instead, by repressed emotions.

Healing from back pain, then, becomes a matter of understanding how our mind affects our level of pain and learning to change learned and conditional behaviors that cause a negative emotional state. The emotions that contribute to chronic pain tend to hide in the unconscious and are not readily accessible to us. The patient represses socially unacceptable emotions, such as anxiety, anger, and resentment in an attempt to protect them from addressing the emotional pain that they would otherwise cause. The unconscious, in an attempt to distract the patient from the painful emotions, creates instead physical pain. These conditions frequently have what appears to be a physical cause associated with them, but this is just a convenient 'place' for the mind to store the pain.

Recovering from chronic pain with caused by emotions requires the patient to accept that their pain is most likely caused by repressed emotions and to work to change the conditioned habit of avoiding reinjuring themselves. Additionally, patients must reduce their stress and understand the source of the repressed emotions so that they can cure themselves of the physical pain. The good news is that the prognosis for healing is extremely good for patients with chronic low back pain - almost 90% of patients recover completely and no longer suffer from pain.

Reflexology For Lower Back Pain

Reflexology for back pain makes sense and works great. Reflexology is not very well known. It had iis beginnings in ancient China and Egypt. It is based on a very ancient form of therapy, there is evidence of it being performed in China as long ago as 4000 B.C... It is even seen being depicted on the tomb of Ankmahor along with images of surgical procedures.

Reflexology is in its simplest way a common form of natural healing. It bases its basic principles on the fact that there are reflexes along the hands and feet connected to every organ and gland in the body. When there is pressure applied by a reflexologist to these areas it removes the energy that is blocked which, of course, promotes increased circulation to those areas and improves body and muscle functions and circulation.

As it turns out Reflexology for back pain is an extremely effective method of relieving that back pain. When the right amount of pressure is applied the results are truly amazing. If continued to see a specialist for a few weeks the circulation is improved and in most of the cases even optimized.

The way this works is that reflexologist have an acupressure chart which pinpoints areas that are in the feet and hands, normally these charts are used by acupressure. So the chart shows the accupressure points that are in both the feet and hands. It's extremely helpful in the treatment of back pain, whatever the origin of the pain. The nerve flow to the region causing the pain is vastly improved over the course of several sessions and the same is true of the blood circulation and lymph flows.

The total length of the actual session will last between half an hour and an hour depending on the condition and severity of the patient. The patient remaining fully clothed except for his/her shoes and socks will be laying down comfortably on a table used for massaging and the reflexologist will do there therapy. The reflexologist will use their thumbs, fingers and palms which they will use to massage, manipulate the acupressure points and kneading the area will gently apply pressure to these points.

Reflexology for back pain can be effective because of the deep relaxation felt it's also very soothing and can reduce stress. So it is especially helpful for those that have back pain that is related to stress.

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Avoiding Back Pain With Yard Work

Yard work and maintaining the lawn is a good stress reliever for some people. Many homeowners enjoy being outdoors when the weather is nice. However, it is called yard "work" for a reason and while enjoyable there are a lot of efforts needed to get the work done. Bending over to pull weeds, the constant vibration from sitting on a riding mower or using a push mower can all increase pain levels for someone who was injured in an auto accident. Pain can make an enjoyable hobby like gardening or a household duty such as yard work un-enjoyable. This loss of enjoyment factor must be documented in the doctors' notes so the attorney representing the patient can settle the claim with more ease after the patients doctor or rehab facility helps them feel better.

Once you are out of the initial acute phase of your injury and have been cleared by your doctor to become more active, you should take it slow so you don't re-aggravate the injury. Also instead of doing outdoor tasks that you would normally do in one day, spread the task out over the course of the weekend or get someone to help you with the work.

Here are some tips to follow before going outside to perform yard work after suffering from back pain.

1. Drink plenty of water before, during and after being outside to avoid dehydration


2. Stretch before going outside to perform yard work. Make sure the muscles in the low back are loose so you don't put excess strain on the area.


3. When bending over, make sure you lift using your legs. Avoid picking anything up by just bending over and coming right back up.


4. NEVER twist your body when you are leaning over. (this is a compromising position for the spine and can be problematic)


5. Use knee pads if you will be doing gardening task to decrease stress on your joints.


6. Take breaks frequently so that your muscles don't fatigue in one certain position and go into spasm.

Dealing with back pain at home following an accident can hinder your normal activity but it doesn't have to stop it completely. As long as you make some minor changes to keep yourself out of trouble, you can still perform your hobby without worry.

I'm a good referral for your neighbor who mentions not being able to spend as much time doing yard work because of the pain they feel after their auto accident. Have them call me and I will bring the enjoyment back to their life!

Dr. Branden Evans is a Marietta chiropractor near Atlanta, GA. He has been in practice for nearly 10 years and enjoys helping patients recover after auto accidents. Contact him if you have been hurt and are in need of an injury chiropractor.

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