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I'm on my butt today.  More specifically, on my back.  This weekend my lower back seized up - just one muscle it seems, as the back turns into butt.  It's amazing how a little stabilizer muscle can go nuts suddenly and mess up your whole system. 

I call it "Programmer Back" as there are a handful of other folks that sit in front of a machine all day that have had this problem. 

It seems the symptoms are nearly universal:

• Everything is fine, often for months.
• A seizing happens and you drop to your knees.
• Often you can't stand without help, or if you do, you're bent over like an old person.
• If you don't move, you're OK, but bending over, or rolling out of the bed become impossible.
• It lasts for as little as 3 days or a much as a week and a half.

Some say ice, some say heat, some say massage.  Still others advocate chiropractic.

Have you had Programmers Back?  How do you deal with it?