Hello all,
After reading these posts, I guess I will throw my 2 cents in...

I have had terrible lower back problems for the past 6 years and had two lower spinal surgeries in 1998 (two months apart). The second surgery was to fix the HUGE infection the first surgery caused!!!

I have had the lower third of my spine fused, as well as had the associating discs removed. I live in constant pain and take an assortment of pills daily.

My doc advises NOT to walk as exercise because it just aggravates my problem. Riding an encumbant (sp?) bike is good or water training is even better. When I do my water training, I have to realize that I can do much more in the water, therefore can cause more "after workout" backpain - sometimes lasting a couple of days. So, I have to build up my exercising VERRRRY slowly.

One other thing that helps immensely (especially right before I go to sleep at night) is using parafin. I dip my hands regularly in my parafin dip (helps with arthritis) and at night, when my back is feeling yukky, the hubby takes a paint brush and brushes the hot parafin on my back over the scar and the surrounding muscles. He then will cover my back with some saran wrap and a blanket for about 15 minutes. By the time it cools down completely I am feeling really mushy and can go to sleep without pain (at least for a couple of hours). If any of you have a parafin dip, try it out, it really works!