@sunny65 Sounds like you are being careful and I think that is best. I hurt myself many times along the way.
Please note that McGill's discussion of how pain works and how it goes on and on and how to avoid that does not involve exercises. At least not initially. It's about learning to avoid what he calls pain triggers. That is what helped me right away. I had the mind set that I should be able to do this or that movement. They were normal movements that people do and I should be able to do them. Like make a bed or reach way back in a low cabinet or sit on a hard wooden chair, etc etc. Others do that with no problem so I should be able to. This was not exactly conscious but after reading the chapters about this in his book I realized that was how I had been operating my whole life. His approach is to carefully observe what triggers pain and then to figure out work arounds that don't trigger pain. There are no "shoulds" in this like there were in my head. Like I said I could tell a difference in 2-3 days. That was mind blowing (in a wonderful way) for me.
Again, best of luck with whatever you do to help yourself.