Activity modification
Your body has an incredible healing ability, but sometimes we need to give symptoms a chance to settle to help the body get the best possible start in its recovery. This can mean doing things a little differently. In the short term finding alternative ways of completing these tasks that seem to cause the pain to get worse can promote a quicker recovery. For example, using equipment at work that eases your effort rather than trying to get the job done quickly, or taking a different route while running to avoid a steep downhill section.
Activity modification can also mean adding in rest periods to allow symptoms to be more manageable. Rather than vacuuming the whole house in one go, resting for 15 minutes for example between vacuuming each room may help prevent your back pain from becoming too sore. Remember: pace it don’t race it!
Be aware of holding sustained postures for long periods of time such as when reading, or using smart phones and computers. Make sure you have regular breaks and changes of position. This also applies to desk working: take the time to ensure you are set up correctly at your workstation and take regular breaks. When you notice you are feeling the pain, this is a prompt from your body to change position or take a break and move, at this stage no more harm has been done and it helps getting better as quickly as possible.
More ideas on ways to modify your activity to reduce pain can be found here.