The reasons for your lower back pain on the right side will depend on the symptoms. The symptoms, being the type of pain that you are feeling, is it an aching type pain, soreness, like you feel in overworked muscles, or is it more like stabbing, burning, or electrical shock type pain?

If you are experiencing soreness or aching type pain then the pain is being caused by muscle irritation due to a strain or perhaps tightening of an over worked muscle. In either case, you can get relief by applying heat to the area of the ache or soreness.

On the other hand, if the pain is more like stabbing, burning, tingling, or electric shock type of pain then, the problem can most likely be traced to a problem with the sciatic nerve. If you are experiencing this type of lower back pain for the first time, it would be to your benefit to visit your doctor.

There are quite a few things that can cause problems with the sciatic nerve and in order to treat sciatica (the term used to characterize lower back pain caused by the sciatic nerve) you need to know the underlying cause, and your doctor may be able to pinpoint the underlying cause. This is the first step toward discovering the reasons for the lower back pain, regardless of what side it may be on.

At times it can be difficult for even a physician to determine the underlying cause of sciatica. This is because sciatica can be, at times, a master of illusion, shifting from one side to the other, or running down the back of the leg or legs. Sciatica can be severe one minute and mild or even disappear the next, only to return even more severe than before.

Because I have been there myself, I can tell you that your doctor will tell you, after he determines it is a problem with a pinched or inflamed sciatic nerve, that bed rest for two weeks or more is the only thing that will help. If you suffer from a sore muscle or other type of muscle ache, a heating pad will help ease the pain but, to treat a problem with the sciatic nerve will take finding the underlying cause first in order to determine the proper treatment option. Bed rest is not the only option you have, regardless of what the doctor tells you.