At least twice a day for the past I’ve had sudden, brief spasms of my lower back, slightly to the right of my spine, immediately above my pelvis.
Having back pain is nothing new, ever since my horrible teenage tobogganing accident. But this is a type of pain I’ve never had before – and it’s always passing very quickly, usully within 45 seconds. (My regular spasms, which I thankfully rarely suffer from anymore, tend to cripple me for anywhere from an hour to 3 days)
I’ve done absolutely nothing different this week – exercising and stretching normally, going through my regular routine, working in the same position, yada, yada. Everything is the same. So why am I getting these odd and painful spasms?
My dianosis based on a complete lack of both physical examination and medical qualifications qualifications is leprosy.
Or maybe Black Death.
Is, perhaps, your mattress slowly collapsing?
My mattress is fairly new, in great shape, and designed to support someone who weighs 3 times what I do. No body parts are falling off, and Lyme disease is more likely than yersinia 
I’m wondering if you might need to eat a whole lot more deserts in order to realize the benefits of this mattress. 
Seriously, what matters, I think, is that your spine is as uniformly horizontal as is practicable while you are sleeping. If your mattress is too firm, then your hips won’t sink enough to allow for this. This effect is apt to change somewhat as you gain or lose weight, I suspect. For these reasons, I sleep on an air mattress - it’s thoroughly adjustable, and as an added bonus, the “pressure point” effect is greatly ameliorated.
My chiropractor also suggested this exercise, which I do only once a week (one set to failure), because back muscles recuperate slowly:
[EMAIL=http://www.weightliftingdiscussion.com/backraise.html]Back Raises
You don’t need to go to the gym to do this exercise, I do them while lying face-down on the floor. The whole thing is over in a few minutes.
A friend of mine swears by yoga as a preventive measure against back problems. “Whatever works”, I say.
If any of this helps, please make checks payable to “Enter the Flagon” c/o the SDMB.
Rats, my link didn’t stick. :smack: Let’s try again:
Back Raises
That should do it. This board really needs an “Edit Your Post” feature. ;j
OOOOK. :smack: One more thing.
The point of “going to failure” on an easy exercise like back raises is to get into the range of VERY high repetitions, like over 100. This will encourage the recruitment of new capillaries in the targeted muscle groups, particularly if the exercise is performed so as to keep the muscles under continuous tension. After about 8 weeks, blood circulation and local muscular endurance should improve significantly, your back pains will be a distant memory, and you’ll want to send me all of your paychecks. 
I hate to say the obvious but: CALL YOUR DOCTOR.
There’s a helluva lot of questions and tests a doctor would want to run before making a diagnosis. It could be practically anything, from the very serious (like a spinal chord problem) to the fairly simple (sleeping in poor posture.) There’s no way on earth that anyone – however well trained – could give you a diagnosis online. The suggested exercises might help and might worsen the situation. Do remember that the good intentions of your friends are what line the road to hell.
If you can’t afford a doctor, or don’t want to spend the money, then find a clinic in your area. But looking for online diagnosis… well, this isn’t the Pit, so I won’t say.
And you’ve been around long enough to know better than to ask.