About 80 percent of people have back pain at some point in their lives, and it's second only to cold and flu in the number of doctor visits it prompts.
Back pain can be notoriously difficult to diagnose and treat, but advances in both nonsurgical and surgical options make it more likely than ever that your pain can be tamed.
According to the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the number of spinal surgeries shot up 77 percent between 1996 and 2001.
A study published last year found that chiropractic care reduced back surgeries by 32 percent and cut hospitalizations among back pain patients by 41 percent.
"When I first started practicing (20 years ago) it was quite rare that a medical doctor would refer a patient to me," says chiropractor Beth Barnett.
Barnett's Nashville, Tenn., practice also incorporates massage and acupuncture, two of the most popular nonmedical treatments for back pain.
A 2003 review of the medical literature on the role in acupuncture and massage in treating back pain concluded that acupuncture is as effective as non-steroidal painkillers.
Dr. Benjamin Johnson, director of a pain management and rehabilitation center, stresses pain management is an approach that uses techniques from many fields and isn't just prescribing pain pills.
In a procedure called intradiscal electrothermal therapy, a surgeon inserts a heated wire into a painful disc.
Psychologists increasingly are being used to manage back pain because doctors are beginning to appreciate the role depression plays in back pain -- as a cause and an effect.
"There's no one drug that seems to be helpful in all patients, so we have to use a combination including narcotics, antidepressants, anticonvulsive and anti-inflammatory medications," Johnson says.