Pain, when it started and where it took me.

New to this blogging thing but I think I have something to offer and an abundance of time for what I hope is a few short months. 
It began as a constant dull pain in my lower back that was always present but increased in severity with activity.  I believe the symptoms were initiated when I over did it during a workout on a seated back extension machine.  I used way too much weight and I could tell the following days that the pain wasn't the usual muscle soreness from a good healthy workout.  As an employee of Stanley Steemer my job duties were that of an assistant; I would help set up the equipment for the job, put safety measures in place for the customer, move furniture to clean under,and I would follow ahead of the technician who is operating the cleaning "wand" and help keep the hose out of his way, sometimes spraying down a pre-treatment, spot treating and post-treatments to the carpet, tile, wood, furniture, air duct... in other words there was a variety to my movements and duties.  That is the entry level position, the first promotion and potential for an increase in pay is to be the technician that operates the cleaning "wand"  They can do all that the assistant does, but for the most part their day consists of one set of movements; throwing the wand forward, and pulling it back while rocking your body back and forth with it.  This is a burden on somebody with chronic low back pain to say the least, but like I said, you can make more money in that position and it is the first step in advancing to any other position within the company.  The time had come due to staffing issues, my desire to earn more, and a general mood in the company that if you weren't interested in advancement somebody else in their stack of employment applications would be.  Of course, I had my arguments otherwise and my stubborn fear of change but this is business in America during a recession when jobs are hard to come by for somebody without a college degree I did what I was told.  I mean, I tried, but the pain was not as willing to go along as I was and I decided to finally get a diagnosis from a doctor in order to become strong enough to do the job.  So in the long run I am grateful that my employer pushed me out of my comfort zone because he inadvertently pushed me into a chance to avoid much worse complications and pain due to the diagnosis I received.