What to do about a sore back or muscluar back pain

I have some first hand experience of back pain used before my one year industrial placement at college, the day of an exam, I woke up and couldn't straighten my back. I had the summer to recover before I had to start the placement. I spent most of it on my hands and knees crawling about my mams house.

I went to see an osteopathe and he helped a little, I then went to see another guy and he sorted me out.

This is when I first found out about back exercises and one good tip.

The exercises are firstly to get on the floor on all fours and arch your back like a scared cat. Then do the opposite, dip your back. Hold each position for a couple of seconds. You can increase the degree as you feel comfortable with it.

The next exercise is to lye flat on the floor and put your hand palms down next to you. Then lift your upper torso up with your hands, so your back is arched. Again, does this the degree comfort permits. Then lower yourself down flat and repeat a few times hold each position for several seconds.

The tip I was told about is when your driving your car, use the ball of your foot on the accelerator not your flat foot. Although this more due to some sciatic pain I had.

I always had the pain on one side of my back the lower lumbar muscles.

During this time until my next episode I often got back pain.

Later again, oddly, at a stressful time, I had a back problem after a long period of being unhappy in my permanent job. Same sort of problems as the first time. My work hassled me and sent out a chiropractor, who said initially what are you lying like that for, never lye with both legs straight on your back, always keep one leg slightly bent. I didn't go with him due to cost.

However I found another ostepathe how did lumbar injections, which reduced the swelling in my lumbar muslces. That was about 9 years ago, I haven't had back pain which has lasted longer than a day since.

One tip he gave me was to put some ice on a cloth, I got told off for the bag of peas as it didn't have the water / coldness of the ice and the cloth.

I found a video called a back for life and the back expert spent a long time explaining the exercises and recommended that suffers get a mat and do the exercises everyday to build up muscles and "have a healthy back for life".

In the last year or so I've been going to aerobics and we do the lying down exercise there.

I do find exercise and walking help too.

EDIT:

I forgot to mention a couple of things.

I believe the reason my back problems started in the first place was that, I slipped on the ice in my first year as a student, I did the old slapstip fall, where you feet go up in the air, I landed on my lower back.

Also, yes baths do help, but not because of the heat, but because your arching your back when you lye in the bath for a several minutes.