How to Relieve Lower Back Pain From A Muscle Injury

My story, the lessons I learned, and home remedies.

Lower back pain is a complete bitch.

Back pain is a common or chronic occurrence for all Americans, especially for us women. It was the leading cause of disability in the U.S. in 2014 and negatively affects the work lives of nearly half of all employed Americans every year.

I have an injury that causes lower back pain. Oh, poor you! Lower back pain at 25? Yeah, boo hoo — everyone has problems. I just have to fight a little harder every day to keep my back healthy and strong. That’s a lifelong challenge everyone should have anyway. I was just forced by my body into taking care of my body. Reasonable, I think.

What was less than reasonable, was not going to the doctor the first week that my injury occurred. Really bad decision.

Five years ago, at the peach ripe age of twenty years old, I went to a machine stocked gym for the first time with my friend Ri. I have always been a slim, fairly bony ectomorph. I’d never really worked out before and was excited to do it with her, so when she began doing squats with 7lb weights my naturally competitive nature followed suit.

So there we were, doing squats in the middle of this monochrome athletic agility…