Lower Back Pain And Muscle Relaxers

Relieve Your Lower Back Pain With A Pill

By Jarrett Kruse

The low back pain medications most commonly prescribed fall into three basic categories: pain relievers, anti-inflammatories, and muscle relaxers. All can be components of pain treatment, but muscle relaxers treat pain by helping to relax cramps and muscle spasms that create low back pain. Loosening your low back muscles can make you more ready to exercise and reduce back pain by developing and strengthening muscles and remaining limber. A doctor or physical therapist can suggest a lower back pain exercise guide to help you. Because in some cases there is a relation between back pain and cancer or other serious diseases, it’s important not to treat only the symptoms, but diagnose and treat the cause.

Many drugs are available to treat back pain and muscle relaxers are a key component of controlling pain that comes from muscle tightness or spasm. Relieving your muscle tension will improve your range of motion and help get you ready to begin an exercise program to strengthen your back for the long term. Muscle relaxers can have side effects, so make sure you thoroughly discuss any possible health impact with your doctor before you begin taking muscle relaxers and report any side effects immediately. Sometimes it’s easy to switch to another medication. Here are some common muscle relaxers prescribed by physicians:

  • Cariosoprodol (brand names: Soma, Rela or Vanadom): Affects the nerve impulses involved in muscle spasms. Can cause drowsiness, rapid heart beat, or upset stomach. Consult a physician if you feel difficulty breathing, fever, weakness, or burning eyes.
  • Cyclobenzeprine (brand name flexeril): relaxes spasms, is especially indicated for acute injury. Can cause fatigue, dizziness, dry mouth, abdominal pain or constipation. Consult a physician if you feel irregular heartbeat, hallucinate, have dark urine or trouble urinating, experience seizures, persistent nausea or loss of coordination.
  • Skelaxin; A skeletal muscle relaxer that decreases stiffness. Can cause upset stomach, drowsiness, headache or blurred vision. Consult a physician if you experinec trouble urinating, signs of infection, yellow eyes or skin, sudden mood change, racing heartbeat or fatigue.