I’m currently 3 weeks post right inguinal hernia repair and am preparing to return to the iron game. I haven’t done much since being diagnosed with the hernia about 3 months ago. I was wondering if anyone else has dealt with this and what type of progressions were used to get back to heavy compound lifts like squats and deads?
Just to note the injury was not weight room related and also did not involve a toilet!
I had this same thing happen to me about a year ago. I went highly on personal feel for my rehab, and slowly built back into my lifts. I did a lot of strengthening over time of my rectus abd. via pilates like crunches and over head lifts with lighter weights while in a 1/8 squat position for my TVA. Any type of slow concentration in which you feel intra-abdominal pressure increasing should be beneficial for you, as long as you are very careful. If something feels a little off, err on the side of caution and give up for the day. I started to squats about a month out, and began heavy squats 2 months out. I haven’t really had many issues with the area since then after following this protocol.
I had left inguinal hernia surgery in jan '04…hurt like hell. I actually decided to take it really really easy and did nothing for 8 weeks, then started doing ab work to strengthen the area, then hopped right back into squats/bench/DL. I was actually dieting at the time b/c I put on a bit of weight over those 8 weeks since I was lazy as hell.
i jumped back into it all 4 weeks post-surgery. except that i kept the intensity/volume a little lower than normal because a 4 week break is like noobing it up again (DOMS).
of course, my doc said i could lift heavy whenever i wanted because the hernia wouldn’t return.