Cariboo - have had this from a chiropractor friend for you:
When someone develops arthritis, whether it's in the spine or any other joint, the first thing that happens is that the cartilage in the affected joint breaks down. In the knee, that would be the meniscus. In the spine, that's the discs between the vertebrae. The discs act not only as cushioning, but also as a sort of strut to create space between the vertebrae. This is very important because there are also large spinal nerves that run out from the spinal cord at each vertebra. The spinal nerves pass through "tunnels" created by how two vertebrae sit on top of each other, all the way down the spine. When the discs between the vertebrae break down, the amount of space in each nerve "tunnel" is compressed because the vertebrae have lost their "struts". This compresses the nerves, too, and causes pain and muscle spasms and stiffness (because the nerve being pinched irritates whatever muscle the nerve goes to).
A further complication is that when cartilage or discs break down, our bodies try to contain the damage by laying down new bone. This is actually not entirely a good thing because these bone spurs tend to stick out in inconvenient places and irritate the compressed nerves even more.
Now, here's the thing: no one, not a chiropractor, massage therapist or medical doctor, can reverse the process of arthritis once it's started. If we could find a way to do that, it would be brilliant - so much suffering would be alleviated. But we're limited to prescribing anti-inflammatories to decrease the pain of arthritis, and manual therapy (chiro or massage). What manual therapy can do is keep the spinal joints moving well, which helps with blood circulation to get rid of inflammatory waste products that irritate the joints even more. It also helps get rid of muscle stiffness and spasms and so decreases pain. Increased circulation also helps decrease the formation of scar tissue (which is always an undesirable side effect of inflammation). The best effect of manual therapy is that it can prevent the progression of arthritis, or at least slow it down. Nothing can reverse it. At best, manual therapy is "maintenance" to keep a body feeling good and moving well. At the very least, it's "damage control".
Just read that you still don't seem to have your results, can't believe your idiot doctor !
Anyway, hope the info is of use to you - I would recommend you see someone like a McTimoney chiropractor as they do much less cracking, or a sports massage therapist for joint manipulation to free off the stiffness.