I just turned 27 a few days ago, and guess what? I had a back spasm. It came out of nowhere and debilitated me for about 15 minutes. I wasn’t lifting anything heavy. I simply bent over (at the waist) and had an explosion of intense pain in my lower back and torso. I had to sit with my head in my lap for a long time before I could walk, sit up straight, or even breathe normally. Scary stuff!

Anyone else have back problems or any advice on maintaining good back health?

If it came really out of nowhere, let it checked up by a doctor. It could be anything, not limited to bones, muscles and ligaments...
Because it could be just a first sign of a problem which may become very nasty if not treated in time.
And then proceed on based on what he finds there...

I  have problems since I was a teen where I cant stand still for more than 30 mins,  esp a slow moving lunch lines
I would run like hell  from one end to school campus to other end try to beat very long lunch lines.  Otherwise i would suffer in pains.   

  In my early 30s i had sharp pain shot up my spine from no where so sever that I could not walk for 12 days.

I find swimming in the pool helps as it take any pressure off the spine working out the kinks. 

Problem is I am natrally strong did thing like taking off on a bicycle with so much leg torque that front wheel is off the ground,  living in waco on busy 5 oclock campus rush hour I had like at most like 5 or 6 second to cross a 4 lane highway that means I had go from dead start 0 to 25 mph in couple seconds.

27 seems a bit young, however backs are both fragile and heavily used part of your body.

I had a debilitating back spasm hit me when I was loading my truck in a Home Depot parking lot at 40 years old. I could barely get back into my truck, people passing by were looking at me very concerned, I could tell they were trying to figure out if I needed help.

It's been 3 years since that happened, I have been kind of hard on my back over the years.

Ignoring genetic issues, a few things contribute to my back pain:

-being physically "weak", not working out and having decent muscle tone in my back

-minor pain begets more pain. I have found that a minor back spasm usually devolves into serious back pain, probably because the minor back spasm causes the back muscles to make things worse. The back muscles spasm leaving your back without support, causing pain which leads to more spasms.

I have found that if I sense a tinge of back pain, immediately taking some naproxen sodium can head off bigger pain. The NS inhibits the sense of pain which helps to prevent further spasm. Since that day a few years back I keep NS at home and work and only need it rarely, but if I take it at onset of back pain I find it helps real well.

In my personal case, I think if I was more fit and had stronger back muscles I'd have far fewer issues.

Yikes CEB1993! The same exact situation that you described happened to my sister when she was in her mid 30s.
I had to pick her up and carry her to the car to get her to the emergency room.
All of her X-rays were perfect so the doctor treated it with medicines called muscle relaxers and anti-inflammatory and he told her to get plenty of rest.
He said all it really takes is one wrong movement to cause a severe spasm and it doesn't have to be related to age.

Yikes CEB1993! The same exact situation that you described happened to my sister when she was in her mid 30s.
I had to pick her up and carry her to the car to get her to the emergency room.
All of her X-rays were perfect so the doctor treated it with medicines called muscle relaxers and anti-inflammatory and he told her to get plenty of rest.
He said all it really takes is one wrong movement to cause a severe spasm and it doesn't have to be related to age.

So sorry to hear about that! I reckon mine was partially brought on by stress. I had another flare up today just by bending over slightly to turn on the water in the shower. The unpredictability of these back spasms is really scary. I now wear a 3M back brace at work. I feel guilty about having back issues at work that slow me down and get in the way of my job. Hopefully this won't last too long.

I've been treating my back pain aggressively with a daily dose of Aleve, my back brace, an ice pack, and of course a nice glass of red wine 

So sorry to hear about that! I reckon mine was partially brought on by stress. I had another flare up today just by bending over slightly to turn on the water in the shower. The unpredictability of these back spasms is really scary. I now wear a 3M back brace at work. I feel guilty about having back issues at work that slow me down and get in the way of my job. Hopefully this won't last too long.

I've been treating my back pain aggressively with a daily dose of Aleve, my back brace, an ice pack, and of course a nice glass of red wine 

Really sorry to hear that these spasms are still bothering you.
I wouldn't doubt for a minute that they are stress related.
Anxiety can cause all sorts of physical symptoms.
Sounds like you're doing all of the right things to treat them.
Have you ever tried resting on a heating pad?
I've strained my back a few times and I find that the warmth works great and it seems to relax me as well.
Just make sure that you don't fall asleep for the night with it turned on!!
Try not to feel guilty about the back issues slowing you down at work.
For starters it will only stress you out even more.
I'm sure it's only temporary and you're doing the right things to treat them.

I have quite bad personal experience with air draft, mainly during hot days. It seems be nice to get cooled down in a hot day, but it is very easy to get "local hypothermia" (I don't know the correct English word for this, so hope you get what I mean) on the muscles or joints and get them inflamated.
Got it in a 30degC summer evening: At my "students job" as a public transport bus driver, when slowly crawling through city traffic jam an Icarus 280 (articulated city bus from the 80's, no airco), I was too hot, so opened the window. When leaving the jam to a side street, needed to make up for the time table, so had no time messing with the window, but gaining 40..50km/h speed. The airflow cooled my wet left side shoulder/neck way too much, so after the 5..6 of such cycle (it was quite short line, so about 10 loops over the shift) and the few hours during the evening, at the end of the shift I was already "feeling it" and since next day I could move my neck at all. Took 3 weeks to heal back up, the first week was the worst. I was 22 at that time.

And similar thing, this spring I got too cold air reaching my lower back in my car for barely 20 minutes. From next day, for the first two weeks it was a nightmare to just get up from lying on a bed, then it start to go really slowly away, still feeling it as not 100% even today, half year after. Now I'm over 40, the recovery gets really slower with age...

I'm 32 and have had two spinal discectomies on the same disc. When it herniated a 3rd time I decided I was done with it, so I had spinal fusion in May. Recovery wasn't bad and I am back to running 5 miles 3x a week and swim 3x as well. I can start lifting weights again next month.

I'm 32 and have had two spinal discectomies on the same disc. When it herniated a 3rd time I decided I was done with it, so I had spinal fusion in May. Recovery wasn't bad and I am back to running 5 miles 3x a week and swim 3x as well. I can start lifting weights again next month.

Wow! I'm glad your surgery was a success  Sounds like you're really athletic and healthy, so that's really helpful in maintaining strength and preventing future back pain. Take care and enjoy getting back to your activities.

I had another back spasm today  I had been doing pretty well for about two weeks since my first one, and then this one suddenly hit me when I bent over to pull my clothes out of the washing machine. I sat down with my face in my lap for a few minutes because my back had locked up and I couldn't stand, sit up straight, or even breathe deeply. I now have a day of Hulu, LG, my heating pad, and some wine ahead of me.

I will say that Aleve back and muscle works quite nicely in helping keep my stiffness and soreness away during the day. If this happens again anytime soon, I might see a chiropractor.

27 and lower 30's does sound young to be having severe back problems... however, I've had back problems of this
severity, although very rare, when I was a teenager. Especially when I started weightlifting. Although I saw QUICK results,
my form was off during one session and I bent it the wrong way during the worst time. I didn't hear or feel any cracking,
but I felt a very sharp pain. Breathing became very difficult. That was not fun. My back didn't lock up though.

...That's where it gets serious for me... back locking up. That sounds very scary.

27 and lower 30's does sound young to be having severe back problems... however, I've had back problems of this
severity, although very rare, when I was a teenager. Especially when I started weightlifting. Although I saw QUICK results,
my form was off during one session and I bent it the wrong way during the worst time. I didn't hear or feel any cracking,
but I felt a very sharp pain. Breathing became very difficult. That was not fun. My back didn't lock up though.

...That's where it gets serious for me... back locking up. That sounds very scary.

The fact that my back locked up, I had sharp and stabbing pain, and trouble breathing and speaking lead me to fill out an incident report with work and begin treating it aggressively with OTC medicine and a back brace. September was a bit of a rough month with that problem. I will say, I haven't had a moment of trouble for about a week. My back has felt perfect so far this month  I think my spasms are partially stress related. I'm hoping I continue to have a good October.

After some bending with putting new marker light bulbs in my car, I didn't have any pain or stiffness. Although, I'm sure I'll bend down to pick up a sock and I'll be flat on the floor, again I'm trying to take preventative measures like stretching, OTC medicine, heating pads, and better stress management 

Ergonomics, Ergonomics, Ergonomics! I'm very much guilty of lifting with my back instead of my legs- every workplace boss, etc I've ever had has noticed this and pointed it out, as did my dad when I was still living at home. 

A back injury can screw one up long-term.  I literally quit commercial fishing for that reason, though my current job (tree service) is similarly deadly- but at least I get plenty of breaks.

Ergonomics, Ergonomics, Ergonomics! I'm very much guilty of lifting with my back instead of my legs- every workplace boss, etc I've ever had has noticed this and pointed it out, as did my dad when I was still living at home. 

A back injury can screw one up long-term.  I literally quit commercial fishing for that reason, though my current job (tree service) is similarly deadly- but at least I get plenty of breaks.

Agreed, especially the lifting heavy things properly part. Another thing is to I prefer using a desktop computer with height adjustable monitors instead of a laptop which you tend to slouch over to see the screen.

Agreed, especially the lifting heavy things properly part.

The irony is, the toddlers while barely able to do few steps, are actually doing the lifting (for them everything counts as "heavy lifting") correctly.
It is only later, when people tend to get the bad habits of lifting by back instead of legs...