Causes of Right Back Pain

Sometimes back pain tends to affect only one side of the body. You might experience persistent pain in just your right shoulder, right upper back or around your right side and middle back. Lower right back pain may even shoot straight down one or both legs.

Most of the time, right side back pain doesn’t necessarily point to a specific problem. Even when a diagnosis of the pain-causing condition is made by your healthcare provider, one question too often overlooked still needs answered to ensure long-term pain relief: what caused the condition itself?

Back pain itself is a symptom of one or more conditions that affect the nervous system. Most right back pain starts with a muscle strain, a pinched nerve, or other internal issues. Let’s take a look at some common conditions leading to right side back pain symptoms.

Right back pain from a pulled back muscle

Muscle strains are the number one cause of all forms of back pain. It is possible to strain a muscle on just the right side. Back pain from a pulled muscle, or back strain, usually diminishes in a few weeks, but can take up to 6 weeks to heal even with proper care after injury.

Pulled muscles can occur suddenly from trauma such as a fall or car accident. But even bending the wrong way can lead to a muscle strain with weakened back muscles. Bending the wrong way to your right can pull a muscle in your right lower back.

Pain can be treated with rest and ice initially, usually for 48 hours. Some people find alternating heat and ice therapy afterwards reduces muscle spasms and aids the healing process.

Right back pain from pinched nerves

Pinched nerves have a number of causes. The most common pinched nerve condition causing right back pain is a herniated disc. When a spinal disc herniates, inflammation-causing proteins from the inside the disc are released.

Inflammation of tissue surrounding the spinal column or material from the disc core itself can place pressure on nerve roots as they leave the spinal column. These irritated and compressed nerves frequently cause lower right back pain.

Other common causes of pinched spinal nerves leading to right side back pain include spinal stenosis and piriformis syndrome. Spinal stenosis is a condition where the spinal canal space becomes constricted due to inflammation, bone spurs, or other causes putting direct pressure on the nerve roots. Piriformis syndrome leads to compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve – famous for lower right back pain known as sciatica which can radiate all the way down the back of the leg to the foot.

The root cause of most right side back pain episodes

As many as 80% of Americans will experience back pain in their lifetime. Muscle strains and pinched nerves are the most common conditions leading to right back pain. But why are they so common?

The answer is muscle imbalances. Muscle imbalances occur when some supporting muscles become stronger while others grow weaker due to uneven usage.

One typical example is the average office worker. Think of her sitting in the same position for hours on end, day after day, possibly turned slightly to one side or the other to view a computer monitor.

The sitting position tightens the hip flexor muscles and relaxes the glutes (butt muscles). Over time, the hip flexor muscles grow stronger while the glutes become weak and flabby from lack of use.

Both sets of muscles impact the position of the pelvis in relation to the spine. But now one set of muscles overpowers the other and strains nearby supporting muscles. Over time this muscle imbalance can lead to postural imbalances which can pull the pelvis, spine, and other bones out of their normal position.

Of course, that’s just one example. Many activities repeated over and over can cause muscle imbalances. Sitting, standing, lifting, exercise and even sports can lead to muscle imbalances.

Fortunately, by identifying the specific muscle imbalances one can usually work backwards to correct them and eliminate the root cause of back pain. In the process, many of the conditions causing right side back pain can be corrected as well.