Small central disc protrusion at L5-S1

Hey everyone, I've joined this forum because everything else has failed and I hope that I can get some advice on this matter. I will attempt to recollect my memories of everything that has happened in the past 8 months in the best detail that I can.

SYMPTOMS: Just pain in the very lower back, not shooting down in the legs as it would with most people with this kind of problem. I suppose I get what you call a "muscle spasm" whenever I quickly bend over. This would happen whenever I picked up tennis balls or when I used to go to the gym and would quickly pick up the dumbbells on my sides and put them on the rack. Pain would be 9/10, and I even once used an inversion table after it and consequently could barely even walk for a while.

I'm a 17 year old male, (though 16 at the time of the snowboarding accident) and fell snowboarding December 24th, 2011.
At first, I thought this was just some soreness that would go away. I had no idea how bad it was. I just presumed that the outdoor hot tub would help. But of course, it did not. When I returned home from the trip, I began applying an ice pack many times.

The pain persisted, so in February I finally convinced my parents to take me to my first chiropractor. This chiropractor was not good at all, as he would spend under 5 minutes with me just popping my back a couple times, charge $30, then say he'll see me again. He took an x-ray on a side note, which did not show the root of the problem of course. We went only 3 times because of this and I had absolutely zero improvement.

In March I went to see the pediatrician who recommended that I simply refrain from playing tennis or doing anything else for 2 weeks while I took muscle spasm pills and painkillers. At the time, we did not know the cause of the low back pain and she suggested that if the problem were inflammatory, it would go away. Again, no improvement.

In April, I went to see a physical therapist, showed her the x-ray, and I had been consistently doing the prescribed back exercises up until June. But of course, no improvement again. Perhaps it would have been better if she had known that I had a bulging disc, I don't know.

In June, I went to my second chiropractor. He would actually spend time addressing the problem and attempted to educate us on my problem. To his surprise, I did not have any pain shooting down in the legs or anywhere else. The pain is restricted only to my lower back. He adjusted me a couple times, took an x-ray, adjusted me a few more times, and was confounded as to why I was not having any improvement. He claimed that I was part of the "two or three percent" that hasn't improved.

Much to our dismay, he told us to get an MRI, which we finally did in August. He told us to not say we had insurance, so the MRI would only be $400 and not $1000+. We never meet our deductible, so that is why. My mom was worried if I would need surgery, because then we would have to pay a fortune for the surgery since they would presume we didn't have insurance because of the MRI cost. The chiropractor reassured us that I would not need surgery.

After finding out that I have a bulging disc, he told me to use the inversion table which we already had at home everyday at a 45 degree angle. He told me to start at 5 minutes then work my way up to 15, which I did.

This is the part where the 2nd chiropractor became corrupt, because in the beginning he seemed understanding of the financial aspect of repeatedly coming back and not getting any improvement. He said, "We're not here to just take your money and ask you to keep coming back. No. That's not how we work here." Funny thing is, after the MRI, he had a 3 month plan for me to keep coming back for the usual adjustments! He had claimed that the inversion table and decompression machine provide the same results. He didn't have a decompression machine, though.

Then at the end of August, my mom decided to take me to a third chiropractor for the traction decompression machine anyway. He has told me to stop going to the gym and to stop playing tennis so as to not reverse the decompression. I've used the machine 6 times so far, and apparently am supposed to use it another 6 times as part of the plan. Absolutely ZERO improvement so far, even after increasing the weight it pulls me from 40 to 45 pounds.

I already know what he's going to say when we're done with the traction therapy. He's going to tell me to keep coming back for more adjustments, which is not going to happen.

This is pretty much what has happened up until now. My parents and I don't know what to do after the traction therapy is done, so I thought that I'd see if anyone can tell me anything that might cure my perpetual back pain.

To anyone who has actually taken the time to read all of this, THANK YOU. I appreciate anyone who reads my story and replies to this. I hope, I sincerely hope that somebody can offer an answer which can cure this problem that has plagued me and made me miserable for over 8 months.