Why You Have One-Sided Back Pain and How to Get Rid of It

Why is it so common to have pain that’s worse on one side of the back, hip, or leg (including the knee, ankle, or foot?  Or sciatica?)

Injury to that side is a possibility. 

Repetitive movements that are uneven, like mousing or writing, is another.  Very few people are ambidextrous, so no surprise that many people have one frozen shoulder or neck pain on one side.  

But, there’s one repetitive movement we do for sometimes hours a day, mostly in a trance, not paying attention to our bodies…  

Driving!

What tends to happen is that when we’re driving, one hip (the right probably) shifts forward and up.  This creates a muscular imbalance, especially when you compound that with the time you spend in the car and the stress that you experience there.  

What I recommend trying immediately:

1.  Ground both heels into the floor mat.  Create even pressure there on both sides.  Also, make sure they’re parallel, as in one foot isn’t too much more forward or backward than the other.  

2.  Same idea with your hips.  Your sitz bones are part of your pelvis that can be felt just under the fleshy part of your butt when you sit.  You want those to be evenly pushing into your seat EVERY TIME YOU SIT, and this goes for the car too.  Also, be sure there’s not only equal pressure, but also that they’re EVEN, as in parallel to the front of your seat.  

"Screw in Your Legs"

You may have heard of the phrase "external rotation."  

When you're sitting, you want your heels to reach the ground.  From there, think of a slight pushing into the ground with your heels, going slightly INWARD.  Next, your knees will rotate slightly OUTWARD.  

When you have the knees rotating out, also called "external rotation," you'll be able to engage your glutes.  Your gluteus medius sits on top of your buttocks, just above the piriformis and other glute muscles.  It's designed to help you sit!  But it only works as a seat cushion if you engage it.  

It may take a while to make sense, but try to activate the line - the chain of command - through the heels and into the butt muscles with this external rotation.  

Do a squeeze every 15 minutes or so, especially if you notice you get more hip or lower back pain when you're sitting or driving.  

When your sides are uniform, even pressure and even alignment, you should have more muscle stability to be able to get through your day with less pain.  

Let me know how it goes for you!