How to help bad back?

[Treeclimber2]

I pulled my lower back when lifting my ottoman bed. It’s so painful, certain movements have me screaming out in pain. I can’t put socks on or bend much either of course. I just sneezed and the pain in my back was awful, it’s also made it worse. What can I do to heal this? Laying in bed isn’t an option, I have 2 children (at school now) and a dog to look after. Is it something to worry about (for example getting even worse if I sneeze again) or can it get better over time just with me being really careful and doing the minimum of movement? I’ve never had a bad back so this is new to me, if it got worse I don’t know if I could cope with the pain.

If you can afford it book in with an osteopath, I do not rate chiropractors. I was born with a congenital spine defect and have to be really careful now I am older. I did a lot of sport when young. Mine has been so bad I have had to use a walking stick on a couple of occasions. Had a lot of physio on NHS great but you will wait for weeks but the private osteopath I used helped quickly.

I find I need to keep moving but with care when my back is sore, I didn’t want to sort of seize up. I know what my pain is though, you need to find out if it’s muscle or disc.

Take my advice and go to see a private physio for a referral for an MRI. If I'd done this earlier my back injury wouldn't have been so bad. A&E flatly refused to scan me.
I've never known pain like it, so sending

Sounds like the muscles in your back are going into spasm, which is the body's natural way of protecting the spine. Liberal application of hot water bottles will help to ease it a bit. Mine does this from time to time, and it takes a couple of days before it stops the spasms, and about a week to ten days to stop hurting altogether. Some painkillers like ibuprofen will help, as would ibuprofen gel. If there is a walk-in centre near you, it might be worth going to see them just in case.