I'm glad you're doing better, MisterE. I've had a lot of back trouble, and it is a major nuisance. If you can climb .10 with a sore back, you're doing the right thing.
I started having muscle spasms and pain in my back when I was getting into alpine climbing in the early 90s. It pretty much threw me off my game for mountaineering. However, I did a lot of crag climbing last summer, and was pain-free for an extended length of time for the first time since 1993. I was amazed. It must be all the stretching and use of muscle in your core that helped. It gives me hope that I can get back out to the mountains, where I want to be.
The human body is amazing, in health and injury.
No animals were harmed in the making of this thread.