When I hurt my back, I just wanted a pill or something to make it go away.
I wanted the doctor to prescribe some quick, easy back pain treatment that would solve the problem right away without me having to suffer any longer.
Unfortunately, treating back pain isn't that easy.
To get over the injury, I needed a combination of back pain exercises, painkillers, physical therapy and chiropractic care.
The problem was, the back pain exercises that the doctor wanted to prescribe hurt my back.
At the time, almost anything hurt my back and I just wanted to lie still.
He watched me trying the exercises, changed my positioning a bit to make them more effective, and told me to start slowly.
Rather than doing 20 of each exercise like he had originally prescribed, I started out doing five, which was about as much as I could take at that point.
Slowly, as my pain got better, I was able to exercise for longer and longer periods of time.
He explained that the pain was not going to go away on its own, so I agreed to be very diligent about the exercises.
I was surprised to find that several of the back pain exercises were exercises that I had done in yoga or aerobics class before.
Unfortunately, I apparently hadn't done enough of them, since they had not prevented me from throwing out my back.
One of them was called cat and camel on the back pain sheet.
It was exactly the same as the yoga exercise cat-cow.
You stand on your hands and knees with your back flat, then alternately tighten your abs to arch your back and drop your belly to bend it the other way.
This one felt the best, since it worked my whole spine.
I tried moving left and right while arching forward and backwards, doing little circles with my spine.
This seemed to loosen it up, making it feel a bit more comfortable.
Another back pain exercise which I found rewarding was the pelvic tilt.
It was a simple exercise, but seemed to have a profound effect on my back.
I would begin by lying flat on my back with my knees bent and my feet on the floor.
Then, I would use my abs to flatten my mid back down into the ground, hold it there for several seconds and release it.
I found it strange that an exercise which was so subtle could improve my back pain as quickly as the pelvic tilt did.
It took about a month for me to feel completely better, but now I am pain free.
I exercise every day to make sure my back and doesn't come back, and so far the results have been good.
I've also corrected some of the bad habits that set off the problems in the first place.
I don't slouch anymore, and I take frequent breaks at work to make sure I do not strain my back from sitting still for too long.