Long-term back pain; episodes of severity

Hello all,

I've a question about long-term, recurrent, but not always bad, back pain, and I'm hoping someone can provide me with advice on whether or not it's worth getting checked out.

I'm only 19, but since the start of adolescence, I've struggled with back pain. I always attributed it to the awful bed I had - from the age of about 5 to 16 I had a very flat, thin and very uncomfortable mattress. I've always had good posture, for the record, and do to this day. Before I had that mattress replaced a few years ago, I struggled with very severe and constant back pain, which could sometimes be disabling, but never saw a doctor about it. Since 16, I've had a much more comfortable, proper mattress, with a memory foam topper, and within weeks I found that my back was MUCH less painful on the whole.

But even to this day, I still struggle with a degree of back pain. Most of the time it's quite manageable - it usually isn't enough to get in the way of (cardio) exercise, and in actual fact, I'm actually in quite good physical shape now that I'm not in crippling pain. It's certainly not nearly as disabling as it once was, but it's still causing me problems.

I still experience pain and discomfort throughout the day from my lower back and sometimes my upper back as well, and whilst it isn't usually too much of a problem, I find that if I strain my back even slightly - say through over-doing exercise, lifting even a small amount more than I should or even just bending too far - I can often be left with crippling back pain that takes a while, sometimes even a full day or two, to fully subside. I also still can't stand still for very long periods of time before I start to experience extreme discomfort and increasing pain - I can walk for much longer periods of time than I can stand, but after a few hours, I also start to experience increasing pain and discomfort which can become problematic, given that my current work regularly requires me to walk for long periods of time to make doorstep visits or deliveries. I have found that sometimes walking with my father's spare cane (he also suffers from severe back problems, but as the result of spinal trauma) can help alleviate the strain from standing or walking, though I've only ever tried it at home after my back pain has all ready flared up.

A few people have suggested that maybe it's just intense muscle tension, and I had intensive massage therapy a few times after this was suggested (three sessions in as many fortnights), but it didn't seem to do anything for me - my problems were just as bad and no better afterwards.

Any guidance or advice would be appreciated. Is this worth talking to my doctor about, or should I just keep on grinning and enduring it?