If you're looking for back pain relief you need to treat the cause not the symptom; you need to go to the source of the pain, not the spot where it hurts.
In the first instance the source of the pain is vertebrae that are out of alignment.
When that happens, ligaments, tendons and muscles are stretched beyond their pain threshold.
If a disc has been herniated the pain could be excruciating, particularly when you bend over, sneeze or cough.
But all this tells you is what's happened, not what's caused what's happened.
Your pain is just a symptom of the misalignment of the vertebrae.
A range of people will want to rub, crunch, heat and vibrate the spot where it hurts, but apart from some immediate pain relief you won't have fixed the underlying problem.
You need to look elsewhere.
Chances the pelvis is out of alignment.
When that happens the bones above it will move out of alignment as well.
Rubbing, crunching, heating and vibrating the pelvis may bring some relief but you need to keep looking.
The underlying cause of the problem is muscles attached to the pelvis that have moved it out of alignment.
If you want back pain relief it's these muscles that require loosening off.
It's usually hamstring, buttock and hip flexor muscles.
A few weeks spending a couple of hours on the floor every night loosening the tight muscles while you watch TV may be enough to get you on the road to back pain relief.
Loosening is the operative word.
All you have to do is create the conditions for muscles to loosen off.
You may wonder how these muscles have tightened up.
In a couple of words, sitting down.
Hamstring and buttock muscles become shorter, tilting your pelvis back.
The vertebrae above it then need to move out of alignment to compensate for the misalignment of the pelvis.
A good strength training at the gym won't do you any harm, either.
It will strengthen the whole musculo-skeletal ecosystem that is designed to keep your body in good alignment.
There are also exercises you can do at home; situps, pushups, superman back arch and squats.
For a high proportion of people lower back pain is a personally-generated musculo-skeletal dysfunction.
There may be some sort of incident that gets the blame, but lurking in the background are the tight and weak muscles.
A high proportion of people with lower back pain don't have a decent strength and flexibility training program.
They're setting themselves up for bones moving out of alignment.
The great tragedy in all of this is that their physician doesn't ask whether they have a good strength and flexibility training program nor does their physician prescribe one.
As likely as not their physician will not test to see which muscles are tight and which ones are weak.
Their weapon of choice will be a drug to mask the pain and then a referral to someone who wants to rub and heat the spot where it hurts.
If that doesn't work it's off to the surgeon.
In seeking back pain relief there are two key principles to consider:

1. muscles move bones out of alignment
2. the cause of the pain is rarely at the site of the pain.
   

The other thing you have to be mindful of is that it's a big ask expecting to get better by having someone do something to you; sooner or later you have to do something to yourself.
If you're not prepared to spend time each evening doing the exercises then prepare for the worst.
In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and if you want back pain relief become seriously involved in a strength and flexibility training program.
John Miller