Long term recovery from lower back surgery

I have suffered with lower back problems for years now but it all came to a head 3-4 years ago when the lowest disc in my back prolapsed, had to be operated on and I had a microdiscectomy about 2.5 years ago.

For nearly 12 months leading up to the surgery I put it off and used pogressively stronger painkillers to allow me to function and exercise (pilates + swimming) in the hope that the disc would right itself without the need for surgery, in hindsight I think this was stupid as I'm certain its made the recovery from the surgery much longer and tougher but at the time seemed like the right thing to do.

Because I put the surgery off for so long I think the natural reaction for a lot of the muscles between my mid-back and my knees tightened up in an attempt to protect the damaged disc and this has meant that since the surgery I spend time nearly everyday trying to stretch these muscles that are now so used to being tight and whilst I'm confident there is now no serious problem with any of the discs in my back (apart from the slightly smaller disc space now in the lowermost disc) it doesn’t feel like I'm ever going to reach a day where the muscles in and around my lower back will not feel so tight.

Is there a way, after so long I can ever get to a point whereby these muscles wont feel so tight?

Currently I do pilates at home once a week (I used to do classes but did them for so long I know all the 'moves' and so save money and do them at home), I swim once a week and my commute to work means I walk at least 3 miles every weekday plus I spend about 20 minutes stretching at home pretty much everyday. I can play golf, football and go running (no more than a couple of miles at a time) without too much trouble but whilst I know my back will never be right I just long for a day when I don’t have to spend 20 minutes stretching because my lower back is starting to get uncomfortable.

I've seen plenty of physios and osteopaths over the years but thought I'd ask here to see if there is any trick I might be missing.