We need better treatments for chronic pain. Someone I know has this problem. Pills provide only limited help. They wear off and if she takes them too often they stop working. The pain clinic she goes to can offer only spinal injections, which have risks and also wear off in a few weeks, or back surgery, which is a very last resort. Massage provides some temporary relief. I recommend the book "The Mystery of Pain" by Douglas Nelson, which at least provides some new ways of looking at it.