J Snyeg, good advice. My orthopedist handed me my copy of "Treat Your Own Back" by Robin McKenzie - those exercises are what began my road back to where I was and beyond. An orthopedist who is a lower back specialist would be a good next stop for the original poster.
I cannot comment on the appropriateness of chiropractic care for a herniated disc, save to tell you what my orthopedic low back specialist told me, which was two things - he said he found chiropractors generally very helpful, was aware of research that said their care improved recovery times for some back injuries, and that he regularly recommended chiropractic care to some of his patients - and then he told me that, under no circumstances, did he want me, with my particular injury, to see a chiropractor, period.
The windmill took me a long, long time to learn. My own intuition was that it was going to be good for me, but every time I tried it, the first few sessions went well enough, soon to be followed by a gradual increase in pain and irritation to my herniated disc. Whenever that happened, I put away windmill training for a few weeks or a few months, and then I'd try it again. The key, in retrospect, was learning how to rotate in the t-spine and hips without rotating at all in the lumbar spine - I learned to do that, and I'd say I have a love/hate relationship with the windmill now. It's not my favorite thing to do because I have to be so careful but, if my form is on target, I am able to do it with a heavy weight and the good things it does for my body have not been achievable by any other means, so I continue to practice the windmill in a variety of forms, from unweighted to holding up to a 1/2 bodyweight bell overhead.
Best of luck to everyone here.
-S-