OK - this will be bit of a rant so hold on....
Pain is a medical issue not an exercise issue.
Yes roughly 85% of back pain is idiopathic (of unknown origin - likely a movement related issue) but there are times when it is cancer (small percentage but none the less), sometimes it is a abdominal aortic aneurysm (
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23594945/), and sometimes it is.........
Without a complete medical history, injury history, and evaluation it is impossible to know and internet advice is blind - period.
So for all of you giving advice on what to do about back pain - does your advice change if he is under treatment for a medical condition, if he has a history of a surgery or significant injury, if he is taking a statin medication that can cause muscular symptoms, if he has....?????? You simply don't know so it is blind at BEST to offer any advice.
I offer on-line training but only if we can skpe and I can see you move etc...
Dr.s, PT's, and medical professionals vs. the Exercise world
Personal trainers point fingers at PTs etc... because they lose clients for a time and can come back still in pain etc...
And PTs and Dr.s point fingers at the exercise world for injuring people and creating business for them.
"Remember when you point a finger three of them are pointing back at you" (a little southern wisdom)
We are all part of the issue but we can all be part of the solution - appropriate referral within a "network" of trusted professionals is a MUST for an exercise professional - take time to develop this network.
If you choose to treat pain you choose to be held to that level of liability/responsibility.
I agree with Stuart in that it seems you haven't been given information that you can act on by the Dr. etc....
Chris - I have an SFMA PT in that area - shoot me an email (appliedstrength@gmail.com)