Lower Right Back Pain? Consider Morning Stretches

If you are suffering from, a lower right side back pain, you should consider morning stretches to help alleviate the pain, especially if it is being caused by sciatic nerve damage. You can determine whether the pain is sciatica or sore muscles by the type pain you are feeling, as sore muscles feel just like an overworked muscle that tightens and begins to ache. Sciatica (sciatic nerve pain) on the other hand, is more of an electrical shock or, pins and needles type of pain.

Lower back pain due to overworked muscles can be eased by simply using a heating pad however, if the pain is sciatica the heat will only make it worse so, be sure you know what is causing the pain before applying heat. If the pain is concentrated in only the lower back, and again, is more of just an ache from tight, overworked muscles then, this is a symptom of a sprained or bruised muscle and can be treated as such.

If the lower right back pain you are feeling is like an electrical shock or debilitating like pins and needle type pain and it radiates downward through the buttocks and then runs down the back of the leg then, you are suffering from sciatica. Sciatica occurs when the sciatic nerve becomes pinched, which causes inflammation, inflammation causes swelling, which in turn places pressure on the nerve where it exits the spinal column, which is, what causes the severe pain you feel.

The pain can move from the right side to left side and back to the right side again unexpectedly or it can move and stay in the center of the low back area. Since there are several things that can damage the nerve, most of them associated with problems with the discs and vertebrae of the spinal cord, morning stretches can help to ease the pain by helping to keep the discs and vertebrae in alignment keeping the pressure off of the sciatic nerve.

The stretches that I am talking about are backward extension exercises developed by a physical therapist by the name of Robin McKenzie. When preformed properly they tend to centralize the pain close to the center of the lower back, in other words when properly preformed the pain in the legs and buttock moves and stays in the lower back. This is how you can tell the pressure on the sciatic nerve is being eased.

The stretching exercises should be preformed more than just once a day in the morning. They should be done whenever the pain begins to move from the back to the buttocks and legs. They should also be preformed when the pain first flares up as they can help ease the initial pain of flare ups. You should also use ice packs to help ease the pain, place ice wrapped in a cloth on the area of the pain for twenty minutes once every two hours for the first twenty-four to forty-eight hours.

Ice, in conjunction with preforming the stretching exercises twice a day should ease the pain but, once the pain is gone, if you continue with the stretches twice a day, you can keep the lower right back pain from returning so, consider morning stretches as well as evening stretches to keep your sciatica at bay.