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Many faithful readers know that I've had my share of back pain over the years. In fact, I've experienced on-and-off back problems since I was 14. I remember exactly how I hurt my back the first time. I was doing hack squats the "old-fashioned" way – straddling a barbell with one arm in front and one arm behind.

I read in a bodybuilding magazine of this fantastic way to build front thigh mass called the hack squat. Because I was 14, didn't (and probably couldn't) belong to a gym (this was nearly 30 years ago), and didn't have the money or space to buy my own hack squat machine, I fashioned one myself.

Needless to say, you know the outcome. I tweaked my back to the point where I had severe pain in my lower back area and had a really hard time participating in sports. I remember at the time that I was in PE class (back when Physical Education was thought of as an integral part of a young person's education); it was winter so it was football season. Because I was fast, my team relied on me to run streaks, posts, corners, and other speed routes.

The pain really hampered my ability to get open. To this day, I do not know how I ran at all. The pain was quite severe. But being the stubborn fool, I "toughed" it out.

That episode lasted for a month or so.

I didn't have any more issues for several years. After college, I got a retail job at a sporting goods store. There was the normal selling, stocking, and administrative stuff. The stocking is what got me this time. I was moving a case of shoes. Rather than pick it up, I decided to push it across the floor. The bent position I took put my lower back in a compromised posture, exposing it to a shear force that was, looking back now, probably quite severe.

Again, the back went pop and I momentarily lost some feeling. I was in pretty severe discomfort for many months this time around. In fact, the excruciating pain did subside, but it never went away, fading into a dull ache that ranged in severity from a pain level of 1 to about 5, depending on seemingly random factors. In other words, I was always conscious of my lower back; it never let me forget or give me any relief from pain.

Fast forward 10 years. I had one last bout with tremendous back pain. I was doing really heavy leg presses and let myself do them in poor form, rounding my back at the bottom of the movement so that I could get the maximum range of motion and – my hope – getting the best leg stimulation possible.

That worked! My legs blew up in size and my lower back again got tweaked. This time, really badly. To the point that I became almost totally immobile. This time, the episode lasted 8 months. I was on Vallium, cortisone, heavy doses of Aleve; I saw a chiropractor (who only made it worse), an accupuncturist (minimal short-lived pain relief), even an orthopedic surgeon.

Yes, I almost succumbed to surgery! I was in a shambles. At the time, I ran a consulting business. I couldn't make appointments so my income dried up. It was the most dire time of my life.

I never contemplated suicide, but I came to understand why someone might end it all. Life was simply miserable.

What made it worse is that I had just met a woman that I fell in love with. I was such a miserable trainwreck that I felt this relationship slipping away, too. This made life even more desperate.

I literally tried everything short of the knife. I bought an inversion table and practiced inversion therapy religiously. I began using DMSO along with several over-the-counter medications. I stopped taking Vallium (now I knew what being a drug addict felt like and I certainly did not enjoy it).

I found a great physical therapist.

After several months of PT (both professionally-administered and on my own), I emerged with 80 percent less pain. More importantly, I became a functioning human being again.

Turns out, after having an MRI, that I had a slight bulge in a disk, but my physiology being what it was, that tiny bulge was pressing hard on my sciatic nerve.

Fast forward to about 7 months ago. I began taking heavy doses of supplements: Calcium, condroitin, glucosamine, fish oils, MSM. I began drinking a ton of water. I cut out soda (caffeine and sugar are inflammatory).

Most interesting thing: I began doing heavy deadlifts! I think all along that my core was in an out-of-balance situation (my abs were way stronger than my lower back), made worse because I had back pain, so I didn't do any lower back work.

Now that I've balanced my core strength and give my body plenty of nourishment without the inflammatory chemicals, I am now pain-free.

The weirdest thing is, I start to develop pain in my low back with even a single soda!

I am certainly no back expert. Nor am I a chronic pain expert. I know what works for me. I have no idea what works for you. However, I do know that Eric Wong, author of Bulletproof Back, is an expert at healing bad backs. He has the scars to prove it! A Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), Eric has the perfect program for making your back stronger than ever and removing pain forever.

It's called Bulletproof Back. If I'd have had this program 10, 20, or 30 years ago, I'd have had a much more productive and happy life.

In POP Goes the Elbow, I told you how I injured my elbow. This is the update. It's been a week since the elbow popped and searing pain shot up and down my arm, and I'm a LOT better already. I have to say that this is the fastest I've ever recovered from a serious injury and I want to explore possible reasons for the rapid recovery.

First, if you recall, I kept on working even after the pop, and that was stupid. But that night, I did to the RICE thing (Rest – Ice – Compression – Elevation).

Second, I have been using my joint complex supplements pretty regularly. I've written about that here.

Third, and I believe most importantly, I visited the family chiropractor, who happens to specialize in sports medicine and trains quite a few local athletes as well as some pros. He is awesome. He's done a LOT of stuff with my elbow, and every day I feel much better than the day before.

Turns out that I had multiple injured soft tissue. Each is healing on its own, with specific therapies for each. I think by this time next week, I'll be working out my upper arms again.

This is awesome news!

My chiropractor's name is Dr LeCara and he's based in Pleasanton and San Ramon. I highly recommend him.

In the recent past, I've been lax on being consistent with my supplementation. I could make excuses: Work, vacation, kids, etc. Those all come into play, but it's really just laziness. And my back paid for it. I have been experiencing some pretty severe discomfort in my lower back (from numerous injuries, poor posture at work, sitting at the computer for 12-15 hours per day sometimes).

So I got consistent for a week. And my back pain vanished. The back pain resurfaced (because that's just what my back does — it's a real bitch sometimes), but it never got to the point of bothering me. That discomfort comes and goes, and I'm okay with that. I've lived with pain for many years; hours or even minutes without pain are incredible.

In all honesty, my back feels better now at 43 than it has for the last 30 years. My first memory of really bad back pain was at the age of 12. Then it got worse at 14. So, I've dealt with it for over 30 years. Trust me when I say that any amount of time that passes without pain or even discomfort is simply AWESOME. So you might be wondering what I am taking.

Zero medication. All supplements. Here's the list, all bought at GNC and/or Costco. Each dose is per MAJOR meal (breakfast, lunch, and dinner)

• Men's Multi-vitamin/mineral – 1 tablet
• Calcium complex – 2 tablets
• Fish Oil capsules – 2 capsules
• Ginko Biloba – 1 capsule
• TripleFlex (glucosamin, condroitin, MSM) – 2 capsules
• Vitamin C – 1 tablet

NOTE: These are 2-3 times the recommended dosages per the manufacturer's recommendations, and about 50x the RDA. Please don't construe this as medical advice and certainly don't try this without your doctor's approval. I am not a doctor, just a guy who's experimented a LOT with supplements over the past 20-25 years and knows what works for him. I could die tomorrow, too, so what the heck do I know?

Yesterday, I was doing some yard work. A week back, we bought some bushes and a tree for our never-ending backyard renovation. I had planted one bush and had to move some stuff around to make room for another bush planting.

That's when it happened.

As I picked up the sheet of plywood, my straightened right arm went "POP" at the elbow. Searing pain shot up and down my right arm. Not sure what the injury is…of course, I finished the job virtually one-handed, took some pain meds, and iced it several times before going to sleep last night.

This morning, I am in quite a lot of pain. There is a little constant pain, and when I bend my arm with my palm up, there is more (but manageable) pain. However, when I try to straighten (or bend) my arm with my palm down, oh boy, the pain is off the chart.

Off to the doctor I go! I'll try to figure out how in between dropping off the oldest boy at school, attending class with my youngest, and then talking with the tax guy at lunch time…I might get to the doctor this afternoon.

Darn it all. I really didn't need this!

I just put up a review of "The Rotater" over at Muscle-Build.com. It's a simple tool that will help you maintain, strengthen, and stretch your should girdle, minimizing the risk of rotator cuff injury.