FranDoc is right on target. I have been a physical therapist for nearly 20 years, specialize in back and neck injuries and also am a professor in a physical therapy program. For a lot of the chronic pain problems it comes down to stabilization exercise to strengthen trunk muscles and improve trunk muscle endurance. For acute low back or neck pain the McKenzie approach will work on most.
I have had some patients who, once they got past the acute pain and worked on basic stabilization exercise, got involved in Pilates or in martial arts with excellent results. My take is that these activities really force the trunk muscles to stay strong and to have good endurance.
