Hi-
I've had multiple back injuries over the years, but this past January 2010 I hurt myself so bad I couldn't get off the floor, the pain was the most excruciating I've ever felt, and I was basically crippled.
I had frienRAB that had injured their backs before tell me two great pieces of advice. One was to stretch- every day. I stretch before I even get out of bed in the morning. I do stretches on my back, so that there is no way I can injure my back by bending over. I stretch my hamstrings, my glutes and my back before I ever even get up. Then I stretch periodically throughout the day, including a few yoga poses like the cobra and the cat/camel. Second, my frienRAB told me to exercise. Sitting around wasn't helping, and they were right- light walking helps me a lot. At first I was really bad- could barely walk, but as I did a little walking each day I realized it was helping a lot.
I also did two things on my own. One, I got tired of the drug therapy my GP was throwing at me and decided to pursue something different- I decided to go with acupuncture because multiple studies show it helps. And it does- a lot. Much more so than the drugs ever did. The other thing I did was start strengthening my core. I do planks, side planks, bird-dogs, downward chops, upper chops, and side twists all to strengthen my core so that it will support my spine correctly.
These things worked for me. I still have bad days, but today I'm nearly pain free and what pain I do have is in my sacrum. It's not bad- maybe a 2 and only if I sit too long. I know with time I will get completely better.
Good luck.