Back pain isnt all that difficult to understand and the field isnt so complex that anyone really considers anyone else a leading expert in it.
You have two options. Treat the source or treat the symptoms.
Having a "bulging disc" doesnt mean much and certainly doesnt mean its causing your symptoms. What matter is what is it doing...is it not doing much of anything, is it encroaching on a nerve root, abutting a nerve root, contacting nerve root or is it exerting mass effect.
Is the disc hydrated? is that a fissure?
How are the facets...the facets are a very common cause of local back pain.
If you can treat the source via nonsurgical means like inversion table type decompression ( yes i do believe it can be useful in certain pathologies), anti inflammatories, time, or even surgical then good.
If its not a good easy source fix then you treat symptoms on the muscle level by decreasing the pathway stimulation via say stretching, massage, ice, or medication like flexeril etc.
if you have an MRI report please post up results and ill comment on whether its lkely from the disc(s) or other cause which could be useful in determining how to treat it if you are going to attack the source. If you dont wish to go after the source then u just go muscle level.
back pain sounds really complicated. 99% of the time its not that challenging well ok...95%... the other 5% is patients who have perfectly normal test after test year after year complaining of back pain... some i believe have pain others im not so sure as a lot of work comp patients or patients who are already on like 9 psych meds or other types of chronic pain fibromyalgia types which never have a postive test anywhere.
As an aside 2 years ago I was part of study using experimental tractography MRI in a research setting looking at pain. we could successfull identify ton of known pain sources very clearly.... but certain groups of patients, like previously mentioned, never showed anything abnormal on scans..hmmm lol. Study is still ongoing due to the significant implications from a legal and ethical standpoint... but i believe in my career lifetime this type of scan will be implimented for better sourcing a patients pain allowing for better treatment but also used for people who claim pain in a work comp setting.