I have surgery this week for an Inguinal Hernia, Umbilical Hernia and potentially a small Incisional Hernia. I’ve tried researching the recovery and it appears it’s roughly 3 months until you can get back to normal lifting (sometimes longer for others).
What I haven’t really found is what can I expect the week after my surgery? Will I be in a ton of pain and pretty much in bed? Or is it miserable but you can still do things? I work from home (on the computer) so I’m trying to see what my schedule needs to be. I may just take the week of but if any of you have any insight it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Really depends on the person and the size of the hernia. Some people are more sensitive, less coordinative, etc.
Just realize that the initial mechanical strength of the tissue is provided by the stitches and then slowly gets taken over by your connective tissue as it heals. Going by your avatar you seem young and in shape, so you should recover quicker than average (unless you’ve got some systemic issues that hamper recovery).
I would just take it very easy the first days/ week and give the wound time to close up. It’s pretty straightforward connective tissue and it doesn’t involve joints and recovery of sensory fields etc. so mainly involves recovery of mechanical strength, which happens pretty fast (few months vs. a year).
Once the wound is closed the tissue will slowly get stronger by being mechanically stimulated. Initially just moving around, going to the bathroom, etc. will provide plenty of mechanical stimuli but over time you need to increase your level of activities for it to still have a stimulating effect on mechanical strength. As a rule increase your amount of activities before you increase the overall intensity.
You shouldn’t run into any problems if you listen to your body and aren’t too impatient or overzealous. Just take it easy on the front end of the recovery to make sure you don’t re-injure yourself. My guess is that you’ll probably recover quicker than average (probably 2 months or less) but it’s risky and unnecessary to push it. What’s a few weeks compared to a lifetime of lifting?
[quote]grippit wrote:
Really depends on the person and the size of the hernia. Some people are more sensitive, less coordinative, etc.
Just realize that the initial mechanical strength of the tissue is provided by the stitches and then slowly gets taken over by your connective tissue as it heals. Going by your avatar you seem young and in shape, so you should recover quicker than average (unless you’ve got some systemic issues that hamper recovery).
I would just take it very easy the first days/ week and give the wound time to close up. It’s pretty straightforward connective tissue and it doesn’t involve joints and recovery of sensory fields etc. so mainly involves recovery of mechanical strength, which happens pretty fast (few months vs. a year).
Once the wound is closed the tissue will slowly get stronger by being mechanically stimulated. Initially just moving around, going to the bathroom, etc. will provide plenty of mechanical stimuli but over time you need to increase your level of activities for it to still have a stimulating effect on mechanical strength. As a rule increase your amount of activities before you increase the overall intensity.
You shouldn’t run into any problems if you listen to your body and aren’t too impatient or overzealous. Just take it easy on the front end of the recovery to make sure you don’t re-injure yourself. My guess is that you’ll probably recover quicker than average (probably 2 months or less) but it’s risky and unnecessary to push it. What’s a few weeks compared to a lifetime of lifting?
[/quote]
That was great info and advice, thank you very much for taking the time to respond!