I can only give you my experience (spinal stenosis, osteoarthritis, early onset degenerative disc disease, and a huge synovial cyst at L2-L3 I’ve named Simon. Simon is a literal pain in the arse). And a healthy dose of missing vertebrae bits & bobs thanks to a rubbish genetic roll of the dice. All diagnosed in my teens. Go me.
Gentle exercise - not Pilates or yoga or any of that - in the first few days of acute pain. Shuffling to the loo or a slow shamble around the kitchen is fine. Rest is vital; I supplement with ice packs if the pain is sharp & neural, hot water bottles when it’s a muscle on the fritz. Use rolled towels or lumbar pillows in your lumbar region, place support under your knees when laying on your back too.
I was taught to have no more than 48hrs prone before attempting longer shambles. Also, make sure you pace (as part of a long term strategy), utterly frustrating but alternating rest & short bursts of energy with rest time in between.
Unless you know the pain is definitely muscular, I’d be looking at getting some form of imaging (MRI, CT) to really see if there is any neural impingement. I’m super lucky to have my sciatic nerve trapped in a couple of places, so I have full leg involvement when it comes to the pain. Pregabalin & amytriptaline are helpful for me, I also use tramadol & paracetamol for general pain.
TENS machines are brill too.
As I’ve had surgery, I can’t have any osteopathy on my lumbar region, although I have found it useful for cervical release that was causing headaches. Avoid all chiropractors, they’re non medically trained charlatans with frankly dangerous practices & woo beliefs instead of good old science.
I do practice yoga & Pilates for core strengthening, but if there is fundamental mechanical spinal issues then medical treatment is the only way get relief. I had a discectomy & nerve root decompression at 20 & have been under orthopods for over 30 years now, you can’t fix my shambolic skeleton with a few crescent moon poses & a lotus position or two.
Physio in the short term can get you moving, whilst getting longer term exercises for strengthening muscles, improving range of movement & simply better ways to navigate things like getting out of bed & having a wee. Our GP practice now has a resident NHS physio, see what your GP can offer you. We can even get phone & Zoom sessions with him as well as appointments in person.
Hopefully OP your pain will resolve soon (I’ve had benzos added to my mix if there is muscle spasms restricting movement) & can give fast relief to get moving again, but I’m not a Dr, only they can give proper medical advice!
Good luck, it’s bloody shite having severe back pain.