Whoever you go to, ask about the mechanisms of your complaint. And ask how the treatment being prescribed alters those mechanisms.
I have no idea how a "spinal misalignment" and adjustment really work. Most back pain can be broken down into a few categories:
1. Muscular pain - Just like how your biceps get sore when you do more curls. This kind of pain usually resolves by itself in 72 hours or so, and is sometimes helped by NSAIDS, etc.
2. Connective tissue pain - The tissues that cover and connect muscle to bones. This is commonly the etiology of the pain that sends people to the chiro or doctor's office. When people get a back strain, they get inflammation in these tissues due to microtrauma. The pain reduces mobility, and you end up with muscle spasms that are acting to splint the injury (and people mistake the spasm as the actual injury). These take longer to heal, but studies show that most heal within 4 weeks, and that chiropractic has not shown any benefit in reducing the length of healing time. What does help are things that decrease inflammation and improve mobility: NSAIDS, stretching and tolerable exercise, and steroid injections.
3. Structural Instability - True structural problems will present with degrees of neurological dysfunction. These can be catastrophic, and of course are much more rare.
So when it comes to chiros, be wary. Ask your chiro if he's a "straight" or a "mixer". Ask how true he is to Palmer's belief that "chiropractic is the wellspring of human health". Ask about mechanisms. If you like the chiro because you fell a little better after you go, and you don't mind departing with a little less of your disposable income, that's your perogative. But RUN from the guys who tell you that they can do anything more than make your back feel better.
As for myself, I don't like throwing money away, and I've seen far too many fractured spines that have been cracked by chiros. So I won't be joining you if you want to go.
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