Your options at a glance
- Low back pain usually comes from a joint, a disc, or a muscle.
- Each source hurts differently and needs its own treatment plan.
- Rest helps a mild strain, but too much rest can make backs stiffer.
- Chiropractic care and spinal decompression address joint and disc problems directly.
- Surgery is the right choice for a small number of backs, not most people.
Start by asking what kind of back pain you have.
People come in asking what the best treatment for back pain is. That is the wrong first question. The right one is what is actually hurting.
Your low back has three main pain sources. Small joints that guide movement. Thick discs that absorb load. Muscles that hold the whole thing steady. Each one produces a different pattern.
A joint that has stopped moving hurts in one spot, feels worst when you first get out of bed, and eases once you walk around. A disc under pressure hurts more when you sit, bend forward, or climb out of the car, and it can send pain past your buttock and down your leg. A strained muscle feels broad and achy, shows up a day after you moved something heavy, and settles over a week or two.
Three problems. Three plans. Choosing a treatment before you know which one you have is how people lose six months.
Some back pain is not a back problem. Sudden leg weakness, loss of bladder or bowel control, numbness around the groin, fever, unexplained weight loss, or pain right after a hard fall need a medical doctor today. Not an adjustment. Not a wait-and-see.
What each option is actually for.
Rest and time
A simple muscle strain usually settles on its own. Two or three days of taking it easy, then normal movement again, is the whole plan. What hurts people is stretching those days into weeks. Beyond about 48 hours, lying still makes most backs stiffer and weaker, and stiff weak backs hurt more.
Over-the-counter medication
Anti-inflammatories and pain relievers turn the volume down. That is worth something, especially in the first few painful nights when you cannot sleep. They do not restore a joint that stopped moving and they do not take pressure off a disc. Used for a few days they help you stay moving. Used for months they hide the thing you should be fixing. Ask your pharmacist or doctor what is safe for you.
Chiropractic care
This is where a joint problem belongs. An adjustment is a quick, controlled push to a segment that has locked up, and it restores motion there. Many people notice a change the same day. Some do not, and that is worth saying out loud. As the joint moves again, the muscles around it stop guarding, and the relief holds longer each visit. Back pain treatment here starts with an exam, so we are treating the joint that is actually stuck rather than the one you are pointing at.
Non-surgical spinal decompression
For a disc pressing on a nerve, an adjustment alone is often not the answer. Spinal decompression uses a motorized table to gently stretch the low back and take pressure off the disc. It is slow, quiet work, done over a course of visits. It is also the option most people have never heard of, which is a shame, because it sits in the gap between drugs and surgery where a lot of disc patients live.
Injections
A steroid injection can calm an angry nerve enough to let you rehab. It is a window, not a repair. If nothing changes during that window, you are back where you started when it wears off.
Surgery
Surgery is the right call for a small number of backs. Real nerve damage, a disc that is not responding to anything, structural problems that are not going to change. For those people it can be the best decision they ever made. For everyone else it is a large answer to a question that has smaller ones. Most surgeons will tell you the same thing.
How we decide with you.
Your first visit runs about an hour. Dr. Boss asks when it started, what you were doing, what makes it worse, and whether anything runs down the leg. He watches you bend, twist, and stand. He feels which joints move and which have stopped. He tests reflexes, strength, and sensation in both legs, because a nerve under pressure shows up there first.
Then he shows you. A 3D model of the spine makes it obvious where the problem sits. People take care of their back better once they can picture it.
You leave with a plan and a rough number of visits. If you are not improving the way we expected, we change the plan or send you to someone who can help. Nearly every plan also includes therapeutic exercises, because adjustments restore motion and exercise is what keeps it.
Reviewed by Dr. Christopher Boss, DC, Boss Chiropractic. Last updated September 11, 2026.
This page is general information, not medical advice. What is right for you depends on your exam. Dr. Boss will tell you straight whether we can help, and where to go if we cannot.