My physiotherapist's approach is to engage in a variety of horribly painful activities to get those muscles to unlock, and then teach you how to do the exercises that will help you stop it happening again.
That's pretty much what I did, modulo the physiotherapist. I would lift, get punished for it with brutal back pain, wait for a few days for it to subside, then do it again. I was free of back pain within a month.