When it's getting harder to bend n sleep without experiencing pretty bad pain or it travels from one spot to most of the back. I've got Herrington rods fused to my spine and over all these yrs it caused degenerative disks and nerve damage so my back pain has gone from slight to severe

Hi Joanie! I have dealt with chronic back pain since an injury in 1994, and chronic neck pain since 2002. These are things I look for: has pain tolerance, activity tolerance and energy lowered? Has soreness and inflammation increased? Have all of these been consistent for more than 2 weeks? If you have other issues that cause pain and inflammation, you will need to factor those in as well. If you cannot attribute your symptoms to anything else, I would think it is most likely your back.

I should add that I use 2 weeks because I also have fibromyalgia and those flare-ups last around that long.