T Nation

Starting Over After Inguinal Hernia Surgery

Injuries and Rehab
#1

I am currently 2.5 months post op from a right inguinal hernia surgery. I have a 3 inch incision and the hernia was repaired with a mesh.

The first week post op was the most painful experience I’ve ever had. I’ve passed 9 kidney stones, ruptured 2 disks, broken various bones and have had many other painful experiences but nothing compares to the torture of post op inguinal hernia surgery.

I’m now doing much better but have had some ups and downs. I’m in a down right now since I’ve tried some new exercises. Bodyweight squats and lunges have strained the mess out of the repair area. I’m hoping relaxing for awhile will allow it to heal right back up.

At 1 month post op the doc said I could slowly start training again so I spent the next month doing various exercises using no more than 30 lbs total. At 2 months out I started doing easy bodyweight exercises (Box squats, pushups from knees, bent knee inverted rows, etc.). It seems anytime I try to incorporate a new or harder exercise it just strains the repair area.

Has anyone had experience with trying to regain strength after an inguinal hernia?

I’m tempted to start a post op training log to see if I can get some insight.

#2

I’m very tight in the repair area whenever I squat all the way down and whenever I perform uni-lateral leg exercises (reverse lunges, split squats, and walking lunges). I seem to be okay with step-ups though the next few days the repair area will burn, feel tight, have prickly sensations and some very very small sharp pains. This is really messing with my head and it’s depressing me. Has anybody had these experiences? Or dealt with the head game of making a come back after surgery?

#3

This morning I’m really sore in the repair area. Will this ever get any better?

#4

I feel bad for you but dont have any direct experience of my own on this .

This site here might be worth looking at :

#5

Thanks, I checked out the site. Not too much to go on but appreciated none the less. It seems to be really hard to find any information related to post inguinal surgery recovery anywhere. This is even after asking the medical establishment and they have no real answers. It’s very depressing.

[quote]Field wrote:
I feel bad for you but dont have any direct experience of my own on this .

This site here might be worth looking at :

cyclingforums.com/t/82618/inguinal-hernia-recovery-advice[/quote]

#6

I had my surgery 1.5 months ago. We don’t have socialized medicine like you do, yet, so I had laparoscopic surgery. No incision and supposedly a faster recovery.

My surgeon hasn’t cleared me for any more than running yet. And I don’t see him again for three weeks.

I have pain in the “mesh” area, and activity sometimes aggravates it. From what I understand the area needs to be shaken out of its inactivity a little bit. But there is a small failure rate for the mesh, and constant pain might be a sign of that. Your activity may be too aggressive, and maybe some time off will allow you a restart. And then you can keep your log. Good luck.

#7

Hi - its been years now for you; and Im 5 weeks into my double hernia surgery. how was the outcome, and the pain, how long until you could workout, etc?

#8

I actually ended up meeting with the surgeon again about 3 1/2 months out and he explained that he had to do way more during the surgery that I was not informed of post op. It was a pretty big fiasco of him trying to cover up what actually happened.

Long story short I ended up at physical therapy to break up scar tissue. Mind you, I never did any type of exercise at physical therapy. They just worked on breaking up scar tissue which was not fun let me tell you.

I ended up having full range of motion at the end of all the therapy. Around a year later I was able to do most of the strength training exercises I wanted and could even do kickboxing to a degree.

I can now do just about anything I want but there are things that can “strain” the mesh area. Mind you, I have 3 meshes in one area so it’s strong but can be strained. Things like dumbbell rows, dead-lifts, leg raises, sprints, cardio abz (sex) can leave me feeling strained and it takes a few days to feel normal again.

It’s different for everyone obviously but I had a pretty rough go with mine.

#9

Never thought this thread would still be alive!

From what I recall my recovery took a lot longer than I was led to believe. My surgery was March 12th and I wasn’t able to pitch until early May. I remember having localized pain most of that summer though I had a pretty good year on the mound.

I don’t lift during the baseball season but by fall I was definitely lifting normally. I was 46 at the time so that probably would slow things down.

I only had a single hernia. You had a double 5 weeks ago? I wouldn’t be expecting to be doing too much based on my narrow experience. It is too early to be worried. Let your body dictate. Good luck!