(HealthDayNews) -- Got a backache? The best thing to do may be nothing in particular.
No special back exercises. No bed rest. As much as possible, just follow your normal routine.
Finnish researchers divided more than 160 people with acute low-back pain into three groups: one group was prescribed two days of bed rest; the second, back exercises; the third simply stuck to their usual activities.
When examined after the first three and then 12 weeks, the no-change group had averaged only four days off work -- vs. five for the exercisers and six for the bed-rest group -- and reported less pain and greater back mobility than the others.
The time for exercise, experts note, is after the pain is gone.
