Dear Keith.i am very sorry for your problems . You have chronic back pain . In your age group it is mainly because of osteoporosis . That is weakness of bone with decreased mineralisation . It is sometimes associated with small fractures of vertebral bodies . That is very painful situation .apart from that their may be some muscle weakness or spasm.few more serious conditions such as multiple myeloma etc can cause back pain in your age group . You need a complete work up for all those. Osteoporosis can b treated with high dose of calcium with vitamin D supplements . You can increase the dose of your pain killer if u don t have any kidney or liver disease . Physiotherapy will also be helpful in this case.but if it is something serious you need complete work up to rule out those.hope this will help.