Shoes for sure play a role in this but a more forgiving surface also helps.
I will also say that exercise has been huge for me, strengthening my core has helped a ton. I'm not a doctor or physical therapist so don't just take my word for it but go see a professional and see what you can do to improve the situation. I have a friend that took up yoga and said it has changed his life in regards to his back/neck issues. I'm not much of a yoga guy and I have done more the weights route but it has made a difference for me.
One of the problems with modern lifestyles is lack of movement. Humans evolved to move, stand, jump, run, hang, not sit. Doing something like yoga or Pilates, preferably in combination with strength training, does a lot towards maintaining or restoring mobility.
I had a series of problems with my back, and had seen doctors and physical therapists a bunch. I finally found a PT who was willing to a global assessment of my issues, and worked out much of my problem was hip and pelvis immobility, which was exacerbated by foot and ankle immobility -- or possibly the other way around, it's all connected, and there's lots of feedback. I was able to convince him I was serious, and got him to recommend all the things that he doesn't normally, because no one does them. It was fundamentally a very short list -- lose fat mass, get strong everywhere at every position. One of the specific recommendations was 'go barefoot as much as possible', because there are a whole lot of muscles in your feet, which are important for being bipedal, but which are atrophied by modern shoes.
It's made a huge difference, I haven't had back problems since, and I don't hurt when I wake up. I'm sometimes sore the day after a heavy lifting day, but that's a very different from the aches and stiffness I used to have.
