I recently took a header down a flight of basement stairs. Did not fall (tripped on a sheet and held my balance til I hit the landing) but upon hitting the landing was thrown backwards and landed on my back on the stairs. Initially, pain was so bad that I would have welcomed labor. It has now been 5 weeks and improvement is 500%... however I can now still only sleep on my right side and gently on my stomach (although - last two nights - I can now roll to my right and on my back for short periods). I, many years ago (20) herniated a disc in my back. Tightness in back indicates I re-injured (re-pulled) the back. But the tight pull in my lower left side of back is a bit different. Feel like something is falling or not where it is supposed to be. All is improving from day to day but I am tired of the discomfort, lack of sleep and left side - lower back discomfort. Attentive to posture and doing gentle upward pulling exercises as I feel muscular tugs down (I am 62 and I was a phys ed. major - oh ah so many years ago - have uped to a size 8 (132 lbs) (ie, not overweight and WAS physically very active). Note - no problems with pain or numbness in arms or legs. Boy this is a nasty bout. Can I just chalk this up to healing takes time or should I be concerned that I didn t just re-agravate the disc and might have damaged something more? Aside--- 20 years ago when I was diagnosed with herniated disc I was told it would heal on it s own - 6-8 weeks. I am going on that but this just feels different. Advise?