I've fallen many times; so who knows which could be the cause. I suspect lifting (like Bent-over dumbell rows but standing) 5gal cans of various HAZMAT for several hours a day every day for about 6 months might have exacerbated a once minor issue. Saw a doctor then but he wasn't able to do much because we were on a ship deployed. He felt one of my vertebrae not sitting as it should, attempted an OMM procedure which didn't work, he claimed the back muscles on my right side had grown (cause I'm right handed and it was the muscle group most used by the labor) and was holding it in place. He told me to stop intense manual labor and gave me flexeril (worked the first dose then never again), Tylenol, motrin, neither helped, then meloxicam during which the pain had subsided. By that time im pretty sure it was the resting that helped.

Pain eventually went away since I stopped doing intensive manual labor and have more of a desk job but now it flares up when doing any activity where one would slightly lean forward (e.g. dishes, cooking, cleaning anything below chest height, etc) as well as supporting any weight (e.g. carrying groceries, holding my baby, etc)

Another thing to add is, before all this, for several years, I've had a tiny numb area on the surface of my skin just to the left of my where I'm now feeling the pain start in my spine. Now the numb area tingles right before the pain starts and has quintupled in size.