I have to put this nugget of information out there, because just today I was just playing pickleball with a group, and one of the players had to sit it out. He'd been completely debilitated by back pain. I loaned him the book Treat Your Own Back by Robin McKenzie (available at your library, or https://www.amazon.com/Treat-Your-Back-Robin-McKenzie/dp/0987650408, also available on http://annas-archive.org).

I've loaned it to many, many people since I bought it, and it's always helped them. I hope it helps out my friend as well. He's trying to get an appointment with some back specialist. From what I've heard, most back surgeries are either useless or actively harmful.

It really seems like most people who go to the doctor for back pain are given absolutely terrible treatment. A case in point - I had a friend who had some seriously painful back issues. She went to the emergency room, multiple times. They gave her opiates, did some scans, etc. And these emergency room visits were insanely expensive!

But nothing was useful. The pain continued, until she saw a physical therapist. The physical therapist used some of the exercises from this book, and they made all the difference, she was able to get off the opiates and no longer has back issues.

Anyone with back pain, please read it, it's very short. There's a 90% chance that it'll fix your problem. And you can get a used copy for about $1.

If you don't have time to read it, here's a copy of the "Emergency treatment page" which has a very short summary of the exercises: