hernia recovery

I had an inguinal hernia patched a couple of years ago. I'm back at 110% of where I was before, but it took a while to get there (4 months?). I think Laparoscopic is where they go in your belly button... mine was bad, so they diced me up in my groin.

Net, net is that after the recovery, I am 100%. I could road ride much earlier than run or surf. Just be careful and listen to your body. Work on fitness and pace as opposed to sprinting and major climbs.

Since you are a cyclist, do your sit ups! You need to get your abdominals back, or you are going to set yourself up for other back pain later. That has been my experience anyway.

Thanks for the input. My recovery is going very well. I was able to start light riding 2 weeks after surgery. So far cycling has posed no problems. (intervals, hills). Running and swimming seem to trigger some minor soreness. Not fully recovered after 6 weeks but very close.

I am on day6 of recovery. I stopped the pills Tylenol3 after 3rd day. It was alot of discomfort and a bit of pain. Lots of rest, move slow, bend over like your touching your toes when you cough, avoid laughter, and walk around house a couple hours a day after first couple of days. Mine was inguinal, leaving hospital was easy and quick as you are doped up big time and still anethesized a bit. Its when that wears off does reality set in. First couple of days plan on doing nothing, I lost my appetite due to pain medication, constipation is normal till you stop taking drugs. Have someone come over and get you stuff and help out. After that, every day you slowly get better. Day 6 and I figure another 3-4 days I will be walking normal again and then I just have to go easy for 6 weeks. Everyone heals differently, good, luck.

tomq59 said:

Thanks for the input. My recovery is going very well. I was able to start light riding 2 weeks after surgery. So far cycling has posed no problems. (intervals, hills). Running and swimming seem to trigger some minor soreness. Not fully recovered after 6 weeks but very close.

Tom-
I'd like to know how your recovery went last year.
I just had laparoscopic hernia surgery yesterday. I'm a 42-year old age-group competitive triathlete. Yesterday post-op was pretty miserable for about 24 hours mainly due to the effects of the anesthesia. Today i'm walking around the house carefully with very little pain.
I've spoken to a couple other triathletes who have gone thru this in the past year or two. One who was about my age at the time, bounced back quickly and actually competed in a sprint tri about 8 weeks after his surgery. The other is a 34 year old pro who said he jogged 6 days after his surgery, swam the next day but didn't ride for a couple more weeks. As triathletes who ride in the aero position, I think it puts more stress on our "core" abdominal area so that requires a bit more healing time. As an upright cyclist I suspect you could get back to easy riding in a week or so if all goes well.
But I think it would be wise to keep everything very easy and aerobic for the first 4 to 6 weeks. Good Luck!
TriMan62
Louisiana

Hi,

I had laproscopic hernia sugery about a year ago. This is the procedure where they cover the weak area with a mesh fabric sort of stuff. The day after I didnt feel like doing much of anything. But the following day I felt pretty good and decided to see if I could ride my bike. As I recall, it was a bit painful to climb on the bike, lifting my leg high was difficult, but once rolling, I felt just fine. I rode 10 miles right there and it was no problem. Coming up out of the saddle hurt a bit, but once up I could sprint just fine. The next day I was pretty much back to my normal riding. My doctor told me that there was no way I could tear the mesh loose because it binds to the muscle tissue within a few hours of the operation. All in all, I probably lost 2-3 days riding. Im a strong 55 yr old rider.

Steve

Just found out a have an inguinal hernia, so I'm debating surgery options. Biggest concern of course is what kind of surgery I'll need and the recovery time. I'm a single dad with a 2.5 year old and from the previous posts it looks like the first 48 hours are the worst, so I'm worried. Unfortunately I don't have and friends or family living around me to help. My ex can take my daughter, but what kind of assistance will I need to do things? Can I drive home myself? I'm in pain and have been for months, sUrgery needs to happen. Just wondering if I need a family member to fly in to help. Any insight would be very helpful.

DougDrong said:

Just found out a have an inguinal hernia, so I'm debating surgery options. Biggest concern of course is what kind of surgery I'll need and the recovery time. I'm a single dad with a 2.5 year old and from the previous posts it looks like the first 48 hours are the worst, so I'm worried. Unfortunately I don't have and friends or family living around me to help. My ex can take my daughter, but what kind of assistance will I need to do things? Can I drive home myself? I'm in pain and have been for months, sUrgery needs to happen. Just wondering if I need a family member to fly in to help. Any insight would be very helpful.

No, you should not and cannot drive yourself home. If you can't get a friend or coworker to drive you home, get a taxi.