Most people will experience back pain at some point in their lives. For the majority of people, the pain is temporary and goes away on its own. However, for some people, the back pain shifts from one side to the other. This can be a very concerning and frustrating problem. In this article, we will explore the two most common reasons that causes back pain to shift from one side to the other.
It is very common to have a one sided pain in your back and after a few days the other side of the back also starts to ache or become painful. This happens because of the way our bodies are designed. Back muscles are antigravity muscles, ie they are working all the time to keep your body erect and upright when you are out and about. The muscles on both sides of your back are meant to work together to do so. But when one side is painful and the muscles on that side go into spasm. The muscles on the unaffected side of the back then have to work harder to keep your body upright. This can carry on for a few days until the unaffected side muscles also start to feel tired and fatigued. Then you feel that pain on the unaffected side too. You may translate this to the pain shifting to the unaffected side.
It may also happen that if your back pain was a result of injury or strain that both sides of the back were affected but as one side of the back was more affected all your focus was on that side, ignoring the less affected side. Once the more affected side settles down the brain starts to pay attention to the less affected side and starts to register that the pain is present there. Your brain may translate this as pain shifting from one side to the other.
These are the two most common reasons why your back pain seems to be shifting from one side to the other. There can be other reasons as well but it is important to pay attention to the pattern of your pain and any other accompanying symptoms. If you are experiencing back pain and want to learn some self management strategies to manage it feel free to join my free community.
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