Hi atma_apple,
Welcome to the forum and thanks for posting. I am thrilled for your success. Perhaps you auto fused because your bone was already broken and mended in more than one way.
Thanks for suggesting relaxation as part of an exercise program. I believe the way we carry ourselves, tense and bunched up, is responsible for many negatives in our body. I often suggest meditation and will look into this book.
I would also like to add that spinal education is an important factor. I can't think of anything that can really be done but if I knew then, when I first injured my back, what I know now, my life would have probably been very different. I had no idea what discs were, how they allowed movement or that they could be injured. Suffering with a bad back all my adult life, I was in constant back pain for 6 months before rupturing, in my opinion, at the hands of my chiropractor who should have known better.
Perhaps someone should make a commercial, geared for children, inbetween cartoons, telling them that though everyone at some point experiences back pain, it means something is wrong - from mild to very serious. That way they'll grow up knowing then what I wish I knew
Good for you, Dale