If you had a close and dear friend, someone you could really trust to give you sound advice, knowing that you may not want to hear it but knows that you will accept it because they really care about you. Well you have that friend in your own body ... it is called pain. With the exception of certain bone damage and a few other cases, carry on as 'normal as you are able' if it hurts you are being told not to do that particular manoeuvre. Kill the pain with tablets etc, and you are gagging your friend. Flat on the back stretching and simple rotational exercises, yes, but twenty minutes at most. Plenty of cushions and support when sitting, but for 43 years, grin through it has been my motto. Three sets of displaced discs and a ball of arthritis on the centre one. When I told my doctor all those years ago of my decision not to take painkillers, his remark was 'it is the best thing you can do, depends if you can cope with the pain'.