Hernia Surgery - How Long Out of Gym?

[armada]

I recently had surgery to fix two hernias - it was a laparoscopic bilateral inguinal hernia repair.

I'm currently 9 days post surgery and feel pretty good. Can't really flex abs - still some bloating and bruising. Also occasional mild groin pain.

At my post-op visit (5 days post-surgery), my doc said that the mesh he put in isn't going anywhere, and that I'm free to return to the gym. He just said to avoid movements where I'm stretching my groin, as that may cause me discomfort. He literally said "you could bench press 300 lbs right now and your abs wouldn't be under any stress." I feel like I can't trust him after he said this, as at the time my stomach was massively distended and bruised. There is no way in the world it would have been safe to bench 300 lbs 5 days post surgery when I can't even control abs or breathe properly...

Most of what I read online says to wait 4-6 weeks before returning to the gym. I'm tempted to just jump back into the gym, but my doctor seems...overly aggressive and not well-educated on the physiology involved in weight lifting.

Does anyone have any first hand experience recovering from laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair? How long did you stay out of the gym?

 

[maldorf]

I had 2 inguinal hernias repaired that way on my left side and also open surgery( no lap) on an umbilical hernia. This was done at the same time, so I was in a lot of pain. I think I took off about 2 weeks, no exercise at all.

When I went back I lifted high reps and stayed away from all the big movements that would stress my abs. No deadlifts, squats, leg presses, or bentover rows. I did everything so that I had support of my torso and no big stress on my core. Lots of machine and very few free weights since the core is involved in stabilizing your body.

About 4 months later or so I went back to doing everything. I did it slowly and increased the sets and weight slowly. I still managed to tear something in my umbilical hernia, and it had mesh too. It is about 16 years later and I still have the tear. I haven't had it fixed. It has grown a bit. Im avoiding surgery since I am in heart failure.

My inguinal hernias held up just fine. Maybe umbilical hernias are more apt to tear again. I don't know. That is my experience. I recommend taking it easy and at most do what I did. Since you only had inguinal hernias maybe you will be ok.

Ask your surgeon if umbilical hernias are more "fragile" than inguinal.

 

[kastro]

Im just getting back to training after 5 weeks post repair.Just machines but i am working up slowly.Not worth tearing it up.So far no pain at all.Doc said after six weeks i should have no restrictions.Just becareful and if it hurts dont do it.

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[pupeye]

i had open surgery for inguinal hernia back in march. I felt horrible for weeks, went back to work after three weeks, after 2 days of work I asked for another week off. Should have taken the full 6 weeks the dr recomended.

waited till june to go back to the gym, so i think that was like 10 weeks off. I decide to go light for the summer, june, july, august. just using warmup weight for reps and increasing 1 rep each week. Still feel pain and discomfort. Looking forward to getting back at it soon. Lost 15 pounds and got fatter during the time off.

My surgeon said six weeks for the mesh to fully attach itself but 9 months to fully heal. Being that i still feel discomfort i will take it slow.

 

[deadliftsquates]

Yeah that mesh shit is amazing, I want to mesh my whole body including my cock. It would make every thing super powerful. That shit is strong.

 

[maldorf]

Yeah that mesh shit is amazing, I want to mesh my whole body including my cock. It would make every thing super powerful. That shit is strong.

Not strong enough! Mine failed about 6 months after surgery. Not sure what went wrong, it probably tore loose from the muscle.

 

[kastro]

Not strong enough! Mine failed about 6 months after surgery. Not sure what went wrong, it probably tore loose from the muscle.

Dang id hate to go through those firdt wo days again.Getting out of bed was painful


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[Crazy_jay]

I dont know the difference from those hernia repairs and an umbilical hernia repair but I had an umbilical hernia hernia fixed with mesh. Had the hardest time getting out of bed the first 3 days but the second day, I shoveled the snow off my deck, third day I hung a flat screen TV. After one week I was doing cardio and was back to work moving 60lbs boxes of hardwood flooring. My dr cleared me after two weeks, said I couldn't do any damage to the repair, so I was back in the gym full bore. Well, full bore as I could, there was still some discomfort and tightness, so some exercises were self limiting.

I put that surgery off for two years because I didn't want to be out of the gym for 4 or 5 weeks like many people claim....I'm either really tough, or other guys are just wusses. I lean more toward the latter.

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[buck]

Had my hernia repaired 30 years ago. Had the surgery on Friday was home later that day and back to work on Monday in a machine shop. There were some sharp pains on occasion but for the most part just kinda achy and crappy feeling. When I had my shoulder replaced and my spine fused I was back to work in a week or so. I always tell people that you have to have 2 brain cells to actually feel pain and when you only have one like me it is a piece of cake. The down side is a couple years ago it tore in the same spot again while doing some ab work with a bunch of sliders. I figure when it starts to hurt enough I will probably have it fixed again.

 

[maldorf]

Dang id hate to go through those firdt wo days again.Getting out of bed was painful


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Yeah, its a bitch with the umbilical hernia. The inguinal hernias I had didn't bother me much, or at least the only thing I felt was the pain around my umbilicus.

My wife had to grab my hand and pull as hard as she could to get me up out of bed. I literally couldn't get up out of bed on my own. The pain from using my abs was just terrible. I was popping quite a few oxycodones. Good thing I didn't get my surgery done now because docs wont give it out.

 

[maldorf]

The down side is a couple years ago it tore in the same spot again while doing some ab work with a bunch of sliders. I figure when it starts to hurt enough I will probably have it fixed again.

I don't like how the surgeons tell you that it will be stronger than even normal. It seems to me that it will always be a weak area no matter what.

 

[sub7percent]

Take your time getting back. I rushed it and my mesh got fucked up and had to do it again.


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[maldorf]

Take your time getting back. I rushed it and my mesh got fucked up and had to do it again.


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Did the surgeon that fixed it again tell you what failed the first time? Just curious because mine failed too. Wondering if it tore lose from the muscle or what exactly went wrong.

 

[buck]

I don't like how the surgeons tell you that it will be stronger than even normal. It seems to me that it will always be a weak area no matter what.

I agree with that. The surgeon guaranteed me that he was going to fix it so well that it would never be a problem again. Just kinda sounds like a challenge to me. Had my GP tell me once that I would never have a heart attack with all that I do to take care of myself. I hope not to prove him wrong.

 

[liv2pb]

I had an umbillical hernia surgery done and I was back working out lightly after two weeks and full throttle after 1 month. Man...umbillical hernia recovery is aweful though

 

[armada]

Finally went back to the gym 11 days post hernia surgery. It's been about 3 months since I stepped foot in a gym.

Was pretty humbling. "Workout" was:

Hammer Strength Incline Press: 45 per side x 10

Dumbbell Fly: 2 sets of 15 lb dbs x 10

Standing DB Curl: 2 sets of 15 lb dbs x 10

Selectorized Tricep Dip Machine: 2 sets of 100 x 10

Seems like a crazy long road ahead until I'm back to where I was in May, but I'm just trying to be patient and take it one workout at a time.

Staying away from back and legs for now, as those movements seem like they'd put the most stress on my abs.

 

[maldorf]

Staying away from back and legs for now, as those movements seem like they'd put the most stress on my abs.

Good idea. I think you can do leg extensions for quads and standing or seated leg curls are ok. If you do back later on, be sure to use machines where your torso is supported. Be careful not to hold your breath while you lift, exhale on the concentric portion to keep intrathoracic pressure down!

As I said earlier, I blew my patch out after about 6 months or so, doing deadlifts. I thought by then that it was safe, but I guess not. That was an umbilical hernia though. I didn't blow out my inguinal hernias that I had repaired at the same time.

 

[Ryan1007]

I had an umbilical hernia and was back walking on the treadmill in about a week. Lifting light in about 3 weeks.

 

[Reload]

My training partner had it done. Helped him post surgery with all kinds of stuff. He was back in the gym within about 3 weeks. Back to 100% by about 3-4 months if I remember correctly. Tried to get him to slow down but he was stubborn. Made a full recovery w/o blowing out his surgical mesh amazingly Stronger that ever now!

 

[Hard gainner]

herina surgery

I had mine done 4 weeks ago umbilical and i have to more weeks to go.Ihave to restrain and move heavy patients so i took the six. am going to do high reps and no risky movements for a little bit.