@coco8 For the most part, I'm not in pain unless I overdo something or am under a lot of stress which kicks things up and then my pain level is at most a 3 or 4 which comes from the Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, not the spine. If I do something with bad posture, or lay on the couch with my head turned, it can cause a muscle spasm in my neck which then causes headaches on the back of my head. Those are also caused by TOS too because of the tightness in the neck and shoulder muscles and all of it connected to the spine. I get some aching in my arms and hand from TOS because it compresses nerves and there are so many places in the chest that affect that. I don't have any nerve root compression in my spine. I go to PT once a week.

I don't work out at a gym. I do chores like a bit of yard work and feeding horses which means I have to open 8 foot metal gates that get stuck on the ground and I have to lift them up to open or close them. If I do that wrong and lean over instead of keeping my back straight, I will be in pain, but if I do it with safe posture, I'm OK. I wear an ankle brace and work boots with toe protection. Since recovering from an ankle fracture 14 months ago, I can't walk on uneven ground without tweaking and fatiguing my ankle, but with support, I can get through it OK. If I do too much walking etc, my ankle hurts for a few days. Last weekend, I had to chase a paper I dropped in a parking lot, so for the first time in over a year I had to run a little bit. That put me in pain with tendons and ligaments aching for a few days. That might give me pain at about a 4. I own a horse and do ride mostly at a walk, and I only do as much as I can do safely. My leg will fatigue from having to put weight in the stirrup, but that also helps strengthen it, and riding with good posture builds core strength in my spine. When that is strong, everything else and my posture is better which helps TOS.

Here is another way to think about it. Bones go where they are told to go, and they will go where the muscles push or pull them. The tension held in your muscles was there already and when you moved wrong, it threw your back out. That is kind of like twisting a rubber band and it flips and resets itself still with tension on it, but in a different position. Instead of trying to build muscle, think about trying to stretch your muscles and release the tension.

I hope your new doctor will embrace Myofascial Release. Some are not familiar with it. They study dead things where nothing moves and everything is stiff, so they don't see living fascia unless they see it during a live surgery, but that isn't a situation where they can study it because they are focused on the case. My PT has told me that knotted muscles are holding an electric charge which is how dry needling works. When you put a metal needle into that charge, it dissipates and releases the muscle. There is also a Dolphin Neurostimulator hand held device that can release tension with a current. I had good results when my PT did that along with MFR at the same time, so that there was a shearing force on the fascia in addition to the electric current. My PT also used the Dolphin to block the neurotransmitter pain signals at the nerve roots of my spine prior to my spine surgery. That blocked pain for about a week and helped maintain a better spinal curve.

Once you get things moving again, you need to stretch and keep things moving. Yoga is also a way to stretch fascia, so is cupping. If you are too aggressive in stretching fascia, it tears (causing scar tissue) or the body resists and braces which doesn't help anything. Scar tissue in fascia is part of the problem that makes it too tight. You have to be patient and go slow. There is a provider search at http://mfrtherapists.com/ There may be a lot of therapists who say they know this, but you should seek one who is certified in the John Barnes methods.

I wish you luck and good healing in your journey. Spinal alignment is important to keep even pressure on the vertebrae. Over many years, uneven pressure from muscle imbalances can affect the spine causing bone spurs, and cause other joints to have wear an tear. If you can keep the body in good ergonomic alignment, you can avoid some of the arthritic problems that happen because of misalignment.