I believe nothing has helped my lower back pain more than the 10 miles/day street skating (at maximum effort, which is nuanced by my condition on the particular day). I've had almost no problems with lower back pain for 2+ years.
I've gotten real good at id'ing my own muscles. The most recent pest being my left pec area.
I find that a little exercise is good for baring out the sore sports. If i want to deal with my forearms, I do some push-ups to be able to feel the "ache" so I can then apply thumb and finger pressure.
Things add up over time. I fell on my ankle the wrong way in high school and that added up over time. I walked a half mile to more while being a student, but never did any "restoration" work, so my muscles got tighter and tighter over time. I only discovered massage therapy due to a car accident but the superficial Swedish stuff is mostly a waste of money.
Muscle tightness is usually "painless" but the your feel more dull and range of motion is decreased. But there's plenty of pain when pressure is applied to the trigger points and the muscles "vibrate" to loosen themselves.