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When you are being consumed by the iron jaws of back pain, it’s easy to forget what your lovely, ache-free days were like — and that there are methods of relief. Here are a few common ones.

Traditional Medicine

Medical doctors used to wildly overreact to back pain, throwing drugs and surgery at the mystery, until the federal Agency for Health Care Policy and Research issued new clinical treatment guidelines in 1994. “The era of routine radiography, strict bed rest, corsets, and traction has passed,” says Dr. Richard A. Deyo, a member of the AHCPR panel. “It’s been replaced by early return to normal activity and greater emphasis on exercise to prevent recurrences or to treat chronic pain.” Now your family practitioner is more likely to send you for some ibuprofen and to look at epidural cortisone injections or surgery only as last resorts.

Chiropractic

Gone are the days when your HMO balked at covering chiropractic bills. The AHCPR also endorses manipulation as a safe and effective form of back pain treatment, largely stifling those accusations of quackery that dogged chiropractors in the past.

“Compression equals back pain,” explains chiropractor Leroy Perry, president of the International Sports Medicine Institute. By twisting, pushing, or pulling the spine, a chiropractor relieves compression, thus increasing mobility. Long a satisfying avenue for a majority of lower-back pain sufferers, chiropractic certainly has allure — instant relief — over the ibuprofen approach.

Osteopathic Medicine

It’s a helpful oversimplification to think of osteopathic physicians as a cross between chiropractors and medical doctors. An osteopath will crack your back just like a chiropractor, but D.O.’s also enjoy the same legal status as medical doctors, meaning they can diagnose and treat illness, employ medical technology, prescribe medications, and perform surgery. However, the osteopathic approach tends toward the noninvasive: They prefer to lay hands on the musculoskeletal system, help to improve posture, and prescribe prevention by exercise. For osteopaths, tugging on the spine is only the starting point for curing what ails you, whereas it’s the raison d’Å tre for chiropractors.

Acupuncture

Widely accepted for treating chronic symptoms, acupuncture can also alleviate acute back problems. “If you walk into an acupuncturist’s office with low-back pain, there’s a good chance that you’ll feel better in the next 24 hours,” says Whitfield Reaves, cofounder of the National Sports Acupuncture Association. In Eastern terms, acupuncture releases blocked energy (qi, pronounced “chee”) that should flow freely through so-called meridians in the body, thereby restoring homeostasis. If you must look at it from a Western point of view, studies suggest that needling certain points on the body boosts the production of endorphins, those feel-good hormones familiar to athletes of any bent.

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Though the definitive root of your back pain may be murky, your immediate course of action is clear.

Back off strenuous activity, but stay mobile. Trying to override the pain by ignoring it won’t do any good, but neither will spending a week in bed. If you let your pain be your guide — do what you’re able to do without making it hurt — you won’t feel so stiff. Get up and move around, even if it’s difficult. Perform a few exercises. If you are incapacitated, stay in the sack, but for no more than 24 to 48 hours.

Apply ice and heat. Ice is particularly therapeutic for acute spasms and inflammation. When your back goes, ice it immediately and follow up two to three times a day for the first several days — more often if you need it. (A bag of frozen peas works great, because it conforms to your body.) After 72 hours, if the pain persists, you might try contrast therapy, in which you apply ice for ten minutes and then take a hot bath with Epsom salts or apply a hot pack.

Take mild pain relievers. Aspirin and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen, will help reduce inflammation and thus pain. If it persists without improvement for a week, seek help.

Injury or no, enhancing the mobility of the spine with stretching is a good thing. And when the acute agony of lower-back pain passes, strengthening the postural muscles, which run along either side of the spine between the shoulder blades, will help prevent a recurrence. We’re not talking the old toe-touch here, perhaps the most widely known and worst exercise for any back. Rather, this is a combination of moves culled from several disciplines. Be sure to combine these exercises with crunches — squeezing a pillow between your thighs makes the standard technique work that much better — to strengthen your abdominals. Indeed, your abs serve as the body’s built-in corset, maintaining stability in the lower back.

Pelvic Tilt
Restores mobility in the lumbar spine

Lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat on the floor, and arms at your sides. Keeping your legs relaxed, tighten your lower abdominal muscles to press the small of your back into the floor, as if you’re crushing a grape. Then arch the small of your back.

Knee-hugger
Stretches lower-back and gluteal muscles

Assume the pelvic tilt position, holding the phase when the small of your back is pressed into the floor. Keeping back and legs relaxed, hug both knees to your chest, pulling them to your armpits. Hold for a ten-count.

Horse Stance
Strengthens back extensors and postural muscles

Start on all fours and, keeping your back flat, extend your left arm and hold it slightly to the side, with your thumb pointing toward the ceiling. Now raise your right leg; hold each limb parallel with the floor for ten seconds. Alternate sides to complete one rep. To advance, “draw” the alphabet in 12-inch-high letters with your raised foot.

Heel-Hand Rock
Stretches lumbar muscles, increasing range of motion

Start with what’s known in yoga as the cobra position: Lie on your stomach, toes pointed and hands on the floor alongside your chest. Press your torso up until your arms are straight, keeping your pelvis on the floor. Now roll your shoulder blades down and raise the crown of your head toward the ceiling, elongating your spine. Keeping your hands planted, go onto your knees, lift your hips, and rock back onto your heels until your butt rests over them; you end up prostrate with your head down. Finally, uncoil back into the cobra and repeat.

Million-Dollar Hamstring Stretch
Stretches hips, hamstrings, and back

Sit on the floor with one leg extended in front of you, the other bent with your foot flat on the floor. Rest your chin on your bent knee, grasp the arch of that foot with your hands, and slide your heel along the floor until you feel that slight twinge of muscle discomfort that indicates a good stretch. Then, while you are holding the stretch for six seconds, rotate your straight leg inward, which improves the mobility of your nerves, allowing you to stretch even further. Now switch legs and repeat the whole routine.

TRIAGE
You’ll want to take a different tack with your back when you’re hurting, but don’t stop exercising altogether-no matter what the temptation. In the midst of a painful flare-up, adopt the following therapy routine using the exercises laid out on this page, and be sure to forgo anything that inflicts more pain.

Therapy
Do a set of 20 pelvic tilts several times a day, especially after a period of inactivity.
Prevention
Do 15 pelvic tilts, holding the up position for five seconds, interspersed with sets of 30 crunches.

Therapy
Do three repetitions of knee-huggers; increase to ten reps as you’re able.
Prevention
Do a set of five knee-huggers, holding the position for 30 seconds.

Therapy
Segment the heel-hand rock, doing the cobra and rock-back portions independently, five reps each. Your cobra may not get far off the floor at first.
Prevention
Do ten reps minimum of the heel-hand rock.

Therapy
Do five reps of the horse stance one limb at a time, holding each for five counts. As your condition improves, extend opposite limbs simultaneously.
Prevention
Do ten reps of the horse stance, holding the pose for up to a count of ten. Then, if you can draw the entire alphabet with each foot, you’re doing well.

Therapy
Take a rain check on the million-dollar hamstring stretch until the pain subsides.
Prevention
Do six to ten reps of the million-dollar ham- string stretch. Repeat set with opposite leg.

Here’s how: Each week you’ll go short on Wednesday and Sunday, middle-distance on Tuesday and Thursday, long-distance on Saturday, and take Monday and Friday off. Run at 70 percent of your maximum heart rate except on Saturdays, when you’ll reduce your pace slightly. Stick to the plan, and by race day you’ll be harvesting miles with the best of them.

After a five-minute aerobic warm-up, kneel on your right knee with your left foot on the floor in front of you and that knee bent at 90 degrees — like Reggie White resting on the sidelines. Hold a chair with your left hand for balance and, keeping your torso upright with your back slightly arched, reach back with your right hand and grasp your right ankle. Now, ever so gently, pull toward your backside until you feel a slight burn, and hold for 15 seconds. Relax, reposition the chair to your right, and repeat by stretching the same leg with the opposite hand. Repeat both variations with the opposite leg.

First, decide you’re going to take this jail-cell session seriously: Set aside 30 minutes to run through Coleman’s full-body routine, which requires no weights, though a metropolitan phone book helps with executing some of the moves. Coleman suggests interspersing crunches of your choice between upper-body and lower-body exercises. Throw in a minute or two of skipping rope at an even pace between exercises and your body will never miss the health club.

One-Legged Squats
Place a chair to the right of where you’re standing and hold the back with your right hand to steady yourself. Tuck your right ankle behind your left leg. Now lower your weight slowly until you can touch the floor with your left hand, and be sure to keep your back straight and your head up. Slowly stand and repeat. Do one set of ten with each leg.

Calf Raises
Stand with your legs shoulder-width apart or slightly narrower, your feet flat, and your arms straight in front of you for balance. Raise all the way up on your tiptoes and lower slowly. Do a set of 20.

Dips
Start your upper-body routine with triceps-blasting chair dips. Position yourself with your hands holding the edges of a chair, your legs straight out in front of you, heels resting on the bed. Lower yourself until your upper arms become parallel with the floor, and then push back up. Do two sets of ten.

Lateral Lunges
To keep from going bonkers, try this variation on the familiar lunge. Stand with your feet together, your back straight, and your hands on your hips. Step your right foot one full stride straight out to the side, pointing your toe that direction rather than straight forward. Keeping your left leg straight, with the toe pointed forward, lower your right leg until your thigh is parallel to the floor. Repeat ten times on each side.

Hamstring Lifts
Lie flat on your stomach with your hands folded under your chin. Position yourself so that your left leg is straight and your right is bent at the knee with your lower leg pointing up, foot parallel to the ceiling. Slowly raise your right knee as far as you can, and then lower it. Do a set of 15 on each side.

Trunk Rotations
To balance the benefit of crunches, you’ll want to do something for your back. This is where the phone book comes in handy. Stand with your back about six inches from a wall, your feet shoulder-width apart, and your knees slightly bent. Hold the phone book straight in front of you with both hands. Holding your arms straight, slowly twist and touch the book to the wall in each direction, pivoting from the waist and keeping your feet planted. Do ten complete reps.

Diamond Push-Ups
Place your hands on the floor beneath your sternum, form a diamond with your thumbs and forefingers, and look straight down. Do two sets of 15 push-ups. Be sure to keep your body plank-straight. For a more difficult exercise, elevate your toes (the phone book again), which puts more weight over your arms. Another option is to do step-ups with your hands: Get in push-up position, phone book just in front of your fingertips, and alternate placing hands onto the book. Do 20; it’s more difficult than it sounds.

Towel Twists
Roll up one of those lovely hotel towels and, gripping it with your arms extended before you, give it a twist. Do a set of ten, twisting harder and rolling the towel tighter with each rep. Repeat in the opposite direction.

Going Nowhere
Perhaps the best alternative is simply to swim in place. Scoff if you will, but Stanford men’s coach Skip Kenney recommends it to his swimmers when they’re marooned without an Olympic-size pool. The key is Strech Cordz, a device comprising a nylon belt and latex tubing that you attach to a fixed object. “Just tie yourself up to the ladder and swim for 30 minutes,” says Kenney, who admits this can be “boring as hell.” It’s not really all that bad, though, as the cord’s elasticity affords a sense of movement, so you can perform your stroke naturally.

Stifle It
If you’re dying to break loose from your tether and stroke across the pool, Kenney suggests employing breath control to increase your effort: “Breathing every fifth stroke will get your heart rate up as if you were swimming in a regular pool.”

Freedom of Expression
As an alternative or adjunct to conventional swimming try a buoyant water belt, such as the AquaJogger, that lets you work out vertically in the deep end. You can, in effect, run or cross-country ski, taking advantage of water’s resistance — 12 times that of air, yet joint-friendly. Do a 30-minute workout that begins with water-running for 15 minutes, divided into segments of five, four, three, two, and one minutes. Between segments, do 20 seconds of sit kicks: Position yourself as if you’re sitting in a chair and, alternating legs, kick out from each knee with toes pointed. Now do 15 minutes of cross-country skiing in five segments, as before. Keep arms and legs straight and scissor them forward and back. Cupping your hands increases upper-body resistance. Between segments, do 30-second bouts of modified jumping jacks, jumping your legs out to the side as you would on land and sculling your hands back and forth at shoulder height, like you’re treading water. Travelers will appreciate that these belts weigh less than a pound and lie flat in virtually any suitcase.

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Gear to Go
American Running and Fitness Association membership, which includes maps, personalized schedules, and medical advice, $25; 800-776-2732

AquaJogger buoyancy belt from Excel Sports Science Inc., $40; 800-922-9544

Bike Friday and travel case, from Green Gear Cycling, $1,183; 800-777-0258

Speedo Fit-Rope jump rope, $18; 800-547-8770

Strech Cordz swimming tether, from NZ Manufacturing, $41; 800-886-6621

Xertube stretch tubes, from Spri Products Inc., $6; 800-222-7774

Score a map. You won’t be the first jock to ask, and your hotel may keep on hand maps that include nearby running, cycling, and skating routes. The American Running and Fitness Association also offers maps of runs in more than 200 cities.

Get the local scoop. Bulletin boards at coffeehouses and sporting goods stores are great sources for club events and races.

Mix it up. If you’re running at a track, alternate laps with bleacher-running. If you’re winging it on the streets, follow an out-and-back strategy to avoid getting lost.

Think time, not distance. Without your familiar landmarks, you probably won’t know how far you’re going, so use your watch to gauge your workout.

Pack it. Traveling can be hell for cyclists who dare bring along their equipment. The Bike Friday, however, is a blessing: a high-performance folding bike that packs neatly into an airline-checkable suitcase, preventing extra charges and risk of damage.

Rent and ride. Big bike shops rent bicycles — usually mountain bikes, which means riding knobbies on pavement. The shop can steer you to good routes, however, and it’ll rent you a helmet.

Skates fly free. If you’re checking luggage, skip the rental grab-bag and tote your own in-line skates. You might avoid slaloming crowded sidewalks by cabbing it to your destination.

Doorway Stretch: After a jumping-jack warm-up, stand in a doorway and grab the doorjamb at shoulder height with your right hand. Slowly walk through the doorway until your arm is straight and your chest tightens. Hold for 30 seconds. Switch sides and repeat.

Seated Row: Sit with your legs in front of you, feet flat against a wall, and knees slightly bent. Holding two five- to eight-pound weights, place your hands alongside your toes and then pull them toward your chest in a rowing motion. Lean back simultaneously, and keep those elbows in.

Water Pump: Place your right knee and hand on a bench beside you and, with your back flat, grasp a five- to eight-pound weight in your left hand. Slowly draw the weight up to your armpit, keeping your elbow tucked in to your side. Switch sides after each set.

Wing Pull: Tie one end of a five-foot-long surgical tube to a fixed object at elbow height to your right, and stand perpendicular to it. Hold your right arm straight out from your shoulder, elbow bent and lower arm pointing up, and grasp the other end of the tube, which should be taut. Now, keeping your arm rigid, fold it across your body at the shoulder, pulling the tube tighter. Switch sides after each set.

The Shrug: Standing with your feet shoulder-width apart, grasp a barbell with little or no weight and hold it at your thighs, palms facing in. Keeping your arms and back straight, shrug your shoulders up and back, then release.

Medicine balls range wildly in size and weight, but for starters, moderately fit women might try a six-pounder; men, an eight-pounder. You can use it for partner exercises, but to work it solo, try the giant circle, which taxes both the lower and upper body. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, and hold the ball directly overhead. With your arms straight, slowly sweep it to the right in a full circle, keeping it close to your body. As the ball comes down, bend into a semi-squat, and straighten as you reach 12 o’clock. Do ten in each direction.

The Food and Drug Administration doesn’t approve magnets for therapeutic use, but Dan Marino does — as do plenty of the Miami Dolphins quarterback’s peers. And when you’ve mended your sore joints and muscles, you can use them to post your grocery list on the refrigerator. For decades, so-called therapeutic magnets have enjoyed a vogue among certain ailing athletes, and now their popularity is burgeoning. Nikken, the McDonald’s of magnets, reported worldwide sales (including nutritional supplements) of $1.2 billion in 1996. One eighth-inch-thick magnet costs between $20 and $100.

So how are magnetized wafers said to work? “Magnets stimulate electrical fields in the body,” says Dr. Ted Zablotsky, president of BIOflex Medical Magnetics, “which increases circulation, thus relieving pain.” Many who’ve strapped magnets to sore spots — from shinsplints to bad backs — swear by them.

Predictably, the medical establishment remains more reserved. “Increased circulation would reduce inflammation and possibly hasten healing,” admits exercise physiologist Richard Cotton, a vice-president of the American Council on Exercise. But, he adds, nothing’s been done to prove that magnets affect circulation — yet. The National Institutes of Health deemed the trend important enough to grant $1.1 million to a University of Virginia medical researcher who’s planning an independent study on alternative methods of healing, including magnets, this fall.

Meanwhile, magnet makers stand by sales figures, steering clear of direct medical claims and thus the wrath of the FDA. “They’re an excellent relaxation system,” says Clifton Jolley of Nikken. Indeed, one of their more popular offerings is the magnetic mattress pad (a whopping $690 for a king size). We can’t verify its healing powers, but the firm foam egg-carton surface sure is comfortable.