Back trouble & massage?

Help!

I'd planned to get my mom a gift card for massages for Christmas.

Now, while rehabbing from her double knee replacement, she's developed lumbar spine trouble. I assume it's spondylolisthesis - this is how she describes what the doctor told her: >degenerative part of my vertebra, which allowed one to push forward and therefore put pressure on the nerves< She has back pain at the site, and also numbness in one foot (don't know what aspect of the foot). She just started three weeks of PT and will be seeing an acupuncture doctor.

So... is massage from a qualified LMT contraindicated? (I realize she'll have to get clearance from her surgeon and/or PT, but as a general matter?) Should I go into emergency gift-finding mode?

Massage is ok if her doc says it's ok and the LMT knows exactly what they can and cannot work on.

How did they diagnose the spondy?

If the massage makes you worry, how about a full pedicure/manicure instead? A facial? Hot rock massage? Reiki "massage"?

Thanks.

You know about as much as I do about the diagnosis. She'd have told me if she had an MRI or myelogram, but I don't know whether she's even had plain film or whether the diagnosis was just made on the basis of clinical presentation (and likely prior films). She's had intermittent back pain in the past, but the foot numbness first appeared right after her knee surgery - they assumed it was swelling in the knee compressing a nerve, until the numbness persisted and the back pain got worse.

I doubt she's one for "beauty treatments." She had a mini-massage in the hospital right after her surgery and she commented on how wonderful that was and how she'd never had a massage before in her life (!) - I think you're right, I'll just get her a spa gift card for a dollar amount and let her and her doctor decide what treatments would be safe and fun.