[CharlesinCharge]

trkdoc is precisely correct. There are many causes of back & neck pain, but the three most common are 1) Stenosis (narrowing of the spinal canal, putting pressure on the spinal cord and surrounding nerves), 2) Bulging/Herniated disc (where the disc puts pressure on the nerve root), and 3) Degenerative Disc Disease (where the disc itself degenerates and causes pain without even touching the surrounding nerves).

If a nerve is being compressed, they can do a "decompression" to remove whatever is pressing on the nerve (bone spur, bulging disc, etc.). This might be a Microdiscectomy, Laminectomy, Foraminectomey, etc.---it just depends what is pressing on the nerve and what approach they take to remove it. The theory is the same with all of them, and these days it is usually a minimally invasive surgery.