Bad Back?

Okay, so I have been troubled all my life with a bad back. I can remember feeling it even in high school. My mom also has back problems, so it seems as if I have inherited it. Anyway, I always just kind of lived with them, taking it easy when my back was hurting and such until one day after Thanksgiving of '06. I woke up and I had no feeling in my right foot. My back had been bothering me some, but the numbness really scared me. Anyway after seeing a specialist and having some tests I found out I had a herniated disc in my back. I had spinal injection and then three months of physical therapy and fortunately was able to fix the problem without surgery. In fact, the physical therapist even found that if I played volleyball (my lifelong love) my back would look and feel better the next day. Since then my back has flared up two times. Once last fall. I did my exercises and it seemed to get better. Then again, this week. Monday night I could hardly move. I was getting a little worried. I started up my exercises again (I know, I should have never stopped them) and tried to figure out what I was going to do if it still hurt this badly on Wednesday. I have been playing volleyball for a friend every Wednesday for the last few months. As the week went on, I decided that I would be okay to play. After playing last night, my back feels better than it did all week. Is this just my body's way of saying it's time to get moving again? I hate that I don't do much in the winter. Also, I am not supposed to lift much (i.e. Zachary is too heavy, but how can I not lift him?) and I am definitely not supposed to lift and twist at the same time. It's just so hard to expain to everyone (especially my sister) that I cannot lift things, but playing volleyball actually seems to be good for my back. I feel as though people are wondering if I am just saying my back hurts to get out of doing certain chores (bathtime--too much bending, twisting, lifting, etc. plus, I do hate bathtime) or if I really have a problem. Well, I have the MRI, on CD-ROM nonetheless, and there is defintely something wrong! But look how long it just took to explain it to you!
B