Lifestyle changes can help

This article is the archived version of a report that appeared in May 2009 Consumer Reports Magazine.

Cindy Pickett developed low-back pain at age 22, when she was building a bookcase and suffered two slipped disks. Over the years back pain and other factors led to a 100-pound weight gain. At 59, Pickett, a schoolteacher from Flagstaff, Ariz., retired and decided to make weight loss and exercise her full-time job. She credits her improvement to the combination of weight loss and abdominal-strengthening exercises that reduced pressure on her lower back. Pickett reports that she has not had to take pain relievers for months.

Forty-four percent of our survey respondents found exercise helpful, making it the top self-help measure. And a surprising 58 percent of respondents wished that they had done more exercises to strengthen their backs in the past year. That is more than twice the number who told us they wished that they had reduced or avoided activities that might make the pain worse.