Swimming Back Pain After Surgery

In December 2000 I had microdiscectomy to repair a ruptured L4-L5 and also had L3-L4 repaired. It wasn't until the end of February that I was allowed to raise my elbows above my shoulder. I started back in the pool just walking laps. Once I was able to actually swim I did a ton of just kicking. Kicking, kicking and more kicking. On my back, side, front, no board, with fins, without fins. I wore out a pair of fins. Then later with a board a little, I still don't use a board much. At the end of a summer of that I finally felt like I had better flexibility. I don't know what your swimmer's timeline is but maybe she is trying to swim too soon. I went nine months before really starting to train hard again, but I also had two disks repaired. I also have a bulging L5-S1 that gives me problems so I have to be careful. The biggest complication of this type of surgery recurrence, the disk bulges back out again. I am very motivated to do everything I can to minimize the risk of having that happen again, its that painful! For some reason it was important during the healing phase to minimize arm movement, so maybe your swimmer is trying to do too much too soon. Just have her kick a while.

I just reread your post and see that kicking is actually worse, maybe it is flared right now and she needs to just rest her back. Also I never use a pull buoy (as if I need flotation for my thighs!) as it puts too much stress on my lower back. For some reason my surgeon wanted my arms down for a long time, somehow that was hard on the surgery site. And I could really feel it pulling when I stretched too far.

If she is using a float while kicking that may put pressure on the lower spine. Gentle stretching particularly hamstrings, hip rotation and core strength exercises (pilates/yoga) may help.