My situation

Hello Kristen, I am not a physician though it has been my experience that light muscle toning exercise of the legs may help. Honestly the stronger your muscles are the harder it is to damage them.

Did you give it time to rest? I don't mean just being home--and doing some cooking here---a little light cleaning there--even too many trips to the restroom can keep it from getting the rest it needs to heal.

Our bodies repair themselves at night while we are sleep--and many times if we have damaged a part of our body it needs more time to heal--so more sleep-

I think if you give it adequate rest--then strengthen the muscle you will find it will work much better for you now and in the future. I hope that helps.

As an acupuncturist and massage therapist, I treat injuries to the lower back and have always used a combination of modalities and find that that works best.

For instance, once I have identified which muscles have been injured I will use acupuncture on points which have a healing affect on the lower back (not alway located in the lower back).  Then I put a hydroculator (fancy heat packs) on the tight muscles.  I follow this up with electric stimulation acupuncture and massage.  Finally I do some stretching work.

Usually the patients feel sore the next day or so but then they usually improve.

Ear acupuncture, chinese herbs and liniments and cupping are also viable treatment options 

The number of treatments depend on how fast you heal.

Find a good acupuncturist who is also amassage therapist or find two that work in tandem.

I'd be more than happy to keep you all updated.

Actually, just a couple of weeks ago after a very stressful week of work and other contributing factors, I got a 90-minute hot stone massage. I made sure to tell the masseuse to be careful around that lower right portion of my back-I was actually thrilled and impressed that she asked where to focus, giving me the chance to tell her about my injury and the fact that it can't handle to strong of a massage. She was very careful with that part of my back, yet I noticed after the fact that the pain had kicked up a bit. Mind you, I don't blame her at all. It's happened when others have tried to help my back feel better as well.

So long story short, I learned that I may just have to avoid massages of that part of my back all together.

What can you tell me about acupuncture and acupressure? I don't know much about either, except that the former involves needles of some sort-and that makes me a little nervous.