Back pain is such a bitch. Some great comments here on how to "deal" with it so to speak. I've had it for a decade or so, the joys of every vertebrae fucked up in my neck and 4 in my lower back.
I think the worse part about it is I don't know what it feels like not to be in pain, to feel constantly under siege in my own skin. Only temporary escapism offered by distractions of one kind or another. It's annoying, unrelenting, basically maddening. Between the muscle spasms, the nerve pain down my limbs, and the sharp pain in my back, it's hard to concentrate on much of anything. I am fortunate as I could be worse, I do know I'll need surgery at one point, it's more of when.
What I do that helps, and others have mentioned:
Heat pad, laying on one now. In fact I've burned myself on it and didn't even notice so be careful with those
Sauna
Walking, even while discomforting is better than laying down or sitting, I hate sitting
Hot Shower
TENS unit, yes I love this too
and of course various drugs
What I've done that has been fruitless:
Physical therapy, not gonna fix vertebraes that are collapsing and have extended wear
Spinal Injections - worthless. Only good part of that was a good dose of fetynal and some versa prior to having the giant ass needle shoved in my back
Anti inflammatory drugs - useless and I just end up with an ulcer eventually
Steroid packs have been somewhat helpful, been a while since I did a cycle of those.
If anyone is interested I did read The Pain Chronicles. Was a good read about the authors struggle with chronic pain and explored the physical, mental and historical aspects of pain.
To all those in pain, may you find some relief even if it's simply temporary