Strengthen core, reduce back pain?

jlahorn

I have chronic lower back pain and have gone through months of physical therapy over the years.

My best results in terms of making injuries more rare and easier to recover are from these things:
- getting up and moving for at least minutes every hour or so, whether at home or work.
- Zumba 4x per week (lots of core, lots of limbering)
- walking regularly
- hiking regularly
- Some of the stretches in this book: http://www.amazon.com/Treat-Your-Back-Robin-McKenzie/dp/0959774661/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1387376587&sr=8-2&keywords=treat+your+own+back
- office chair cushions like this: http://www.amazon.com/Kensington-Memory-Foam-Cushion-Black/dp/B001MS70GQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1387376943&sr=8-2&keywords=seat+pad

Some of the things that have been recommended that actually hurt me:
- yoga. Some poses feel great, others trigger muscle spasms that stop me from working out for days or weeks
- Anything like Bodypump, where there are lifts in the routine that stress the bad spots in my back and it's hard to work in a substitution on the fly.
- Freakin' chiropractors. Holy cow, what a bunch of quacks. I've tried 3. Two actively hurt me and one was just ineffectual.

Good luck.