I just had an inguenal hernia surgery yesterday and was wondering what your experience is with getting back to work, working out, etc. The Doctor said 6 weeks before lifting or running, which sounds pretty long but I guess he would know. How about work? It's a sedentary job. Any thoughts on other type of workouts i can incorporate in the mean time?
Thanks

I just had an inguenal hernia surgery yesterday and was wondering what your experience is with getting back to work, working out, etc. The Doctor said 6 weeks before lifting or running, which sounds pretty long but I guess he would know. How about work? It's a sedentary job. Any thoughts on other type of workouts i can incorporate in the mean time?
Thanks

I am recovering from an abdominal hysterectomy and it is my 3rd abdominal surgery over the course of my life.

This is my experience:

1. The biggest thing to recover from is the tiring effect of the anesthesia. I think it kind of exhausts you rather easily and really does not go away for a couple of months or more.

2. I don't know enough about your surgery. And I am not a believer in "listen to your doc" automatically. I research everything up to the wazoo and I listen to my body very carefully. But it seems that 6 weeks seems like a reasonable time to wait before running or weight-lifting. If you look at my recovery thread (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=29474), you will see what my interim attempts are in order to minimize losing muscle tone. But It has not been 2 weeks since my surgery and I have not had the energy to do what my plan is yet... but I think it is a good plan.

3. The most important thing is to not tax yourself, to be able to lie down and sleep immediately when you need to. So if you can, I would try to stay out of work for at least a month. You don't want to do damage to your recovery. There are a lot of people here on JSF reporting of having done too much too soon and either ending up setting themselves back or doing actual damage.
4. I had a friend who had an abdominal hernia with abdominal surgery, who went back to work too soon... he is a maintenance man and lifts pretty heavy stuff around and he caused his abdominal wall to separate. I don't know if he has ever fully recovered from that. I know he just doesn't look well, and has continually gained weight over time, even though he is back to work.

I suspect walking and maybe starting some body weight exercises in a couple of weeks can be explored. But listen to your body. :tu:

Awesome advice Justitia. Thank you. Hope you get well soon. I look on the bright side, I have an excuse not to works my abs!

Awesome advice Justitia. Thank you. Hope you get well soon. I look on the bright side, I have an excuse not to works my abs!

I love your avatar... who is the artist?

You know what's worse than hernia surgery? A redo hernia surgery.
Wait as long as you can. Tissue usually heals with scar that matures at 6 weeks. Not 100% compared to before surgery, but about 80%.

That is Bernard Buffet's Tete De Clown. He did a whole series of clowns. I really enjoy them.

That is Bernard Buffet's Tete De Clown. He did a whole series of clowns. I really enjoy them.


A new artist for me to admire (http://www.allposters.com/gallery.asp?aid=90933237&c=c&search=22981&GCID=s15100x100%2DArtists&KEYWORD=%5BBernard+Buffet%5D)