hi lisa! i've also found that riding a bike is less painful than walking as it does take a lot of pressure off your muscles (except for the bumpy bits on the road - of which there are plenty!). i was off work initially for 3 weeks and then went back to work for 10 days before ending up off work again. i'm not sure if i went back too early or did something else to damage my back, but it is more painful than before (no scans or anything else yet to look at) but i go back to the docs on friday. i am now using two stylish black walking sticks to get about and it takes ages to get anywhere. i was up all last night in pain and am getting pretty fed up, tbh. i do hope the gp does something on friday. i rand work's occ health on the 17th december for help, but as they are changing to a private company on the 2nd january (atos - oh dear!) i was told basically to get stuffed as they couldn't be bothered! not impressed so far.... x