North Melbourne key defender Nathan Grima is expected to miss the first few rounds of the AFL season following back surgery.

Grima broke down with severe back pain during the club's pre-season training camp in Utah and further discomfort during a Christmas break in Tasmania led him to seek medical advice.

The 25-year-old ended up travelling to Adelaide to see a specialist and spent the New Year in hospital pondering how long he'd be on the sidelines.

"The surgeon David Hall was kind enough to come back from his holidays and see me," Grima told the kangaroos.com.au website.

"Once he saw my scans and symptoms, we were left with no other option but to operate. It was a last resort."

Former Central Districts SANFL player Grima said his surgery was called a "partial discectomy" procedure.

"They cut out a part of the bulged disc that had been around for a while. It had got to the stage where the bit that had broken away from the disc was pressing on some nerves which gave me a lot of pain in my leg and hip," he said.

Grima, who was equal seventh in North Melbourne's 2010 Syd Barker Medal, will spend up to 12 weeks recovering from the operation.

A club spokesman told AAP Grima had suggested to coach Brad Scott he was aiming to return in round one, but Scott had told him not to push it too hard.

North have an away clash with West Coast on March 27 in round one followed by a home game against Collingwood then a bye in round three.

"Even though I was in pain, I could still smile knowing that in a few months time I'll be back playing AFL footy," Grima said.

"People come back from injuries like this who are not full-time footballers and who don't have the medical resources we have so I know I'll come back at 100 per cent," Grima said.

Grima said he had suffered back problems for several years.

"But it usually clears up after a couple of days. I just presumed that with a bit of treatment I would be right, but a few days turned into a week and a week turned into a month and here we are," he said.

"It was on the second day in Utah that it really flared up. Just seeing how fit all the boys are and how good the Utah camp has been for them is hard.

"I was there but wasn't able to do anything."

He said the surgery had relieved the pain.

"I woke up from the surgery I didn't have any pain or tingles in my leg so, so far so good," he said.

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