"I'm embarrassed to admit I was crawling around on the floor in an awkward position doing some carpentry when my pain started," says Albert Doughty, 65, a retiree from Middlebury, Ind., who responded to our survey. Doughty first experienced low-back pain several years ago and says it comes back to haunt him about once a year. He says his pain is usually limited to his lower back and feels like a muscle strain. When it acts up he takes an over-the-counter pain medicine and avoids excessive activity. Doughty says he has never seen a professional because the pain goes away fairly quickly. He has managed over the years, he says, because he's generally more conscious of what he's doing; he can tell when his back is being strained.