[patteeu]

I had a herniated disk when I was about your age. It only hurt when I shifted positions from standing to sitting (or vice versa), when I walked, or when I bent over, but when it hurt it was the worst pain I'd ever felt at that point in my life. For a couple of months I actually tried to minimize the number of times I sat down or stood up during the day and did as little walking as possible.

I went to a chiropractor for a while with limited success. After several visits, the chiropractor told me to see a doctor who recommended the same type of core strengthening exercises that Goldmember is talking about. By this time, the pain had become more bearable so I was able to do situps and things like that. Eventually the pain cleared up completely.

When I was 30, my disk herniated again and I was back in the same condition. This time I had to get the problem resolved more quickly to be able to do the things I needed to do at that point in my life so I went to a surgeon and he did a laminectomy (back surgery to remove the herniated portion of the disk). I'd always been told to try exercise first before messing with surgery because I guess it doesn't always work out great, but in my case the surgery was an instant success and I haven't had significant back problems in the 15 years since that episode.

You should probably see a doctor and explore your options. If he wants to try exercise first and you can live with the discomfort for a while, that's probably the best approach. If he thinks surgery is warranted, get a good surgeon with experience and you should be golden. Good luck. I wouldn't wish that pain on anyone.