I feel for you bud, I have suffered with excruciating back pain and it can really drag you down. for what its worth,I found a combination of Diazapam and dichlophenic works best for me, the Tramadol just knocks you out and makes you like a zombie 
My sympathies, Kev, any sort of spinal pain is pretty damn debilitating, and you seem to have signed up for extra. I take a 50mg Tram cap every morning, sometimes I do that for 6 months and then switch to a 30mg of codeine just to vary it. Even a low regular dose of Tramadol means withdrawal symptoms for 24 hours when you stop, so it’s a bit of a drawback.
I sincerely hope the best course of action is found to remedy your problem.