Thank you for your comments & thoughts. I have thought long & hard as to what could have caused it in the first place & have not been able to come up with any answer. My biggest concern is that it seems to be getting worse rather than better. I'm retired & really don't do a lot of things that could have caused it. The only thing I can think of is, we go to the Dominican Repbublic every winter, for the winter & pack 4 suitcases filled to capacity. I lift them & weigh them several times, which really makes it bad. Maybe that's what started it, I don't know. Now all I have to do is bend over, or lift a couple bags of groceries & it hurts. I'm hoping the stretching exercises & the gabapentin do their job soon.