Paul,
I ain't gonna pake the pi$$ 'cos i thought i knew what a bad back was like in the distant past when i've suffered a bit, and then 3 years ago i prolapsed a disc and have never felt pain quite like it (and i've been shot!).
I did it in the most innocuous of ways as well, i just turned round in the kitchen to reach the kettle and collapsed on the floor in agony - i lost all feeling in my legs for about ten minutes and then took about 20 minutes to get into a chair which Angie brought out (eventually

).
Admittedly, i had spent a day earlier in the week throwing hay bales around at my mates farm, which may not have helped.
In my case, the NHS were cr@p - i was given co-codamol and put on the 'urgent' list for an MRI scan. After about a week i asked how long the urgent list is, and was told that it would be done as soon as possible - probably about 6 months

I glad it wasn't non-urgent!!!!
After i got bored with daytime TV i phoned up the Occupational Health team at work and they told me to stay off sick until the NHS pulled their finger out (there goes more of your taxpayers' money).
It took a total of 10 weeks before i could get work to dip into their pockets to pay for a private MRI scan (which just happens to be the time period when my private health insurance kicks in.)
I was in the OHU office in Bristol at 1200 getting the authorisation to go private, and was in the clinic at Bridgwater (45 miles away) by 1400 getting it done.
I then found out that the MRI scanner is owned by the NHS, but they use it for 1 day a week, and the rest of the time (6 days) it is hired out to private companies to use as it is such an expensive bit of kit - no wonder there's a hell of a queue
It's just another "NHS postcode lottery".
The worst thing is that the actual scan only cost £400, and i would have happily paid it myself to get sorted out quicker.
In the end i was told by the consultant that my back is suffering from age (I was only 42, and was being told i was old

) and given a cortizone injection.
Upshot of which - ocassional dull ache if standing still for a long time (more than 20 minutes without leaning or sitting) but you can cope with that!!!!!
Anyway, get well soon.
