Another vote for deadlifting here. With a desk based day job and being a keen cyclist my posterior chain muscles were under-developed compared to my quads etc - deadlifting helped strengthen my glutes, hamstrings and lower back significantly and pretty much all of my back pain has gone.

I didn't use a coach, but did study a lot of videos on deadlift form and also videoed myself to check I was doing it properly.

Unfortunately I'm limited in what I can do overhead due to an old neck injury, so pullups are out. Most upper body stuff causes me pain so I have to be extra careful dialing in the right movements, weight, and reps.

I've heard deadlifts are one of the best exercises, I can't wait to get back to PT and get a personal trainer so I can do those correctly. I doubt I've done enough with lats.

Lateral pulls are basically sitting pullups, and tend to be a lot easier on the neck. They're associated with a big ol' piece of gym equipment, which might be.... tough to get your hands on right now, but definitely look into them.

You're right, though, that deadlifts (performed correctly and safely!) are pretty amazing for your back in general.

> tough to get your hands on right now

If you've got something up high to tie a band to, that's something.

Have you tried archery? My neck and shoulderproblems got a lot better after I started with that.

Doesn't archery normally cause uneven muscle development between right and left side of a body?

Especially for youth yes, but there are exercises for that too.