Very few back pain patients require surgery. In fact, there are no effective surgical techniques for pain caused by problems with muscles and other soft tissues. However, there are some conditions in which surgery can correct a problem and relieve the pain.

Surgery is usually reserved for cases where the pain is due to a herniated disc (the contents of the disc bulge out and distort the normal disc shape, often pressing against a nerve), spinal stenosis (a narrowing of the spinal canal), or spondylolisthesis (poor alignment of the vertebrae). Even in these cases, though, an operation is reserved as a last resort for use only when other treatments fail to relieve the pain.