I had to reply to your post - in december 2000 I had microdiscectomy to L3-4 and L4-5 after three months of excruciating pain and numbness down my left leg. MRI showed those two disks severely compressed, also L5-S1 compressed to a lesser degree. Having pain that literally took my breath away and not being able to walk I opted for surgery which gave me my life back. I was back in the pool in March, but just did walking laps in the shallow end. Once I weaned off all the pain meds I got to swim again, and did a lot of kicking - on my back, side, front, with a board, with no board, with and without fins - lots of kicking! By the end of the summer I felt more flexible in my back than ever. I was about a year before I really started training again, and I am not saying it never hurt again, but never the radiating, crushing pain and leg tingling. This year I am back down to my pre-back surgery times in my races. So never let the doctors tell you "never again" because they don't know you are a Masters swimmer! We aren't their typical patient. I had a great surgeon who let me rehab myself (I hated PT) in the pool and just told me to "let the pain be your guide" (thanks doc).
I had to reply to your post - in december 2000 I had microdiscectomy to L3-4 and L4-5 after three months of excruciating pain and numbness down my left leg. MRI showed those two disks severely compressed, also L5-S1 compressed to a lesser degree. Having pain that literally took my breath away and not being able to walk I opted for surgery which gave me my life back. I was back in the pool in March, but just did walking laps in the shallow end. Once I weaned off all the pain meds I got to swim again, and did a lot of kicking - on my back, side, front, with a board, with no board, with and without fins - lots of kicking! By the end of the summer I felt more flexible in my back than ever. I was about a year before I really started training again, and I am not saying it never hurt again, but never the radiating, crushing pain and leg tingling. This year I am back down to my pre-back surgery times in my races. So never let the doctors tell you "never again" because they don't know you are a Masters swimmer! We aren't their typical patient. I had a great surgeon who let me rehab myself (I hated PT) in the pool and just told me to "let the pain be your guide" (thanks doc).
