Back Muscle Pull Advice - Trainers??

I recently woke up with a major pain in my back that made it hard to bend over or even sneeze without major pain. It's off to the left side (not the spine) just below the ribs, so I'm assuming it's a muscle pull. I had worked out the day before in the early morning and walked around Disneyland all day with no hint of a problem at all, but when I tried to stretch in bed the next morning I got hit with major pain. Not sure if it happened while sleeping or when I tried stretching.

I could barely walk the first day, but I rested it for two days and it felt a lot better. However, you could still feel that there was something going on there. I tried working out again and got about 40 minutes in before it pulled again with some major pain to go along with it. So I started over again and let it rest for a week without working out this time. Again, it felt a lot better, but if I stretched just right I could still feel a little twinge. So I tried working out again and, boom, it felt like someone shot me in the back about halfway through my workout.

The obvious answer to my problem would be to rest longer. Duh. However, is there anything else I can do to help the recovery. I've never had anything like this happen before and I'm pretty bummed to be totally inactive while I just wait for it to get better. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.