Erging after Inguinal Hernia repair

[MPx]

I've been off the erg for 10 days now following an Inguinal Hernia repair. As far as I can tell, it all went well....I'm fine. I discussed recovery at some length with my consultant and while he was relatively supportive of reintroducing (light) weights and other physical activity in a gradual manner after 14 days or so he basically prescribed not erging for 6 weeks. I've found other views online (can't you always!) purported to be from "doctors" who think the opposite, one lady medics vlog showing a slightly shortened stroke but from just a week or so in. I'm generally not as risk averse as society has become - indeed it makes my blood boil that man's endeavour and fun is so constrained for the vast majority by the "if it saves one life" brigade.

Anyway....I'm not looking for any medical opinions, what I've posted for is to ask for real life experience. Would any of you who have had an inguinal hernia repair be willing to share how your erging recovery went? How soon did you sit back on the erg? Did you experience any issues? Do you think what you did was best for you, or would you do it differently if you had your time again? Thanks.

[alex9026]

I had one last year and took the full six weeks off the Erg as advised. My concern was any stress on the 'core' and risking a tear. I *may* have done some very light Erg'ing after five weeks, to see how it felt, but I do recall posting on here and being rather tentative about it. If there is an active link to the previous "what training have you done today" thread I could easily find it.

I was in my feet walking after 48 hours or so, little soreness but I could do daily tasks. Just got lots of walking in over the six weeks. Light weight training after four weeks, but no weighted squats, deadlifts or heavy overhead pressing.

If I had my time again I'd pick up a cheap turbo trainer to put my bike on, just a little something to keep ticking over. You've been at this game much longer than me Mike, I may have been on the cautious side. I wish you the best of luck for a full and quick recovery.

[Tsnor]

My repair used mesh, so was a very solid repair. It was "open" (not laparoscopic) hernia surgery meaning they cut things open and sewed it back together. Doctor's surgery fail rates are published in the US, I picked a doc who did a bunch of these and who had a good success rate.

Looking at the curves for tissue repair I didn't do anything that applied force for 5-6 weeks. I did a lot of things that would improve blood flow and would remind my muscles where they belonged, e.g lots of walking, low effort cycling, during those 5-6 weeks. No volleyball, no lifting packages, etc.

Your abs/core are super strong. Your short pieces and low pull are ridiculous. I think you're nuts if you do any rowing now at even 10% of your normal load. You're probably held together with a little glue or a few stiches and the point load on those won't hold. Good news for you is your doc had a lot of muscle to work with that wasn't covered in layers of fat so if you don't rip up the doctor's good work before the cut muscles can regrow you should be all set. (Also try not to get sick, coughing right now is a bad idea).

The healing rate changes with age and blood flow. Blood flow depends on which part of the body is cut up, some area have really low blood flow. Blood flow also depends on activity. You want activity just don't rip things up. Age is not in your favor BUT you are not typical for your age. You know me from my posts, you are likely not surprised by my (not a doctor) view is that the risk reward of doing any rowing with any pressure prior to week 6 is "don't do it".

Looking at professional athletes: "Of the athletes who underwent surgery, 98% have returned to competition. After a minimum of 6 weeks for recovery and rehabilitation, they have usually returned to competition within 3 months." https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/P ... clinicians.

More info: "he maturational or remodeling phase starts around week 3 and can last up to 12 months. The excess collagen degrades, and wound contraction also begins to peak around week 3. Wound contraction occurs to a much greater extent in secondary healing than in primary healing. The maximal tensile strength of the incision wound occurs after about 11 to 14 weeks. The ultimate resulting scar will never have 100% of the original strength of the wound and only about 80% of the tensile strength."
and
"..medications that can adversely affect healing include anticonvulsants, steroids, antibiotics, angiogenesis inhibitors, and NSAIDs. Drugs known to promote healing include insulin, vitamins, thyroid hormone, and iron."

edit: re "...while he was relatively supportive of reintroducing (light) weights... " at a guess he was talking about lifts that didn't put any load at all on your wound, e.g. not squats. Wait it out. It's only a few weeks. That 6 weeks number is right for so many operations, sort of like the 9 month number. Don't rush it.

[MPx]

Many thanks for taking the time Alex and Tsnor - very interesting and helpful.

My repair was laparoscopic (three tiny wounds) with mesh placed on the internal face.
I walked (literally) into the theatre at 10am and out of the hospital at 3:30pm - I felt up to driving home, but wasn't allowed to!
I took the advice to use pain relief (alternating paracetamol/Ibuprofin) without waiting to see if it really hurt - I talk a good game right up to the point when it hurts! First night was pretty uncomfortable but otherwise its been fine and I've stopped all that pill popping now. They actually gave me a bottle of morphine solution to take if it got bad...but thankfully I've never even got close to needing that.

I was concerned about my age meaning recovery (to the wounds) would be slower than avg, but my consultant thought not - not least because the "avg" is mostly made up of us oldies to start with and amongst that sample set I'm reasonably fit !

I find it interesting that "The Rowing Doc" and the "Sport Rehab Guide" both advocate doing stuff from week 3.
Also that my Consultant agreed with Alex that cycling would be a good alternative in the early weeks (3-6) - sadly I don't have a bike, maybe need to buy a bike erg!

I'm hearing the risk/reward Tsnor - I'm just dreading facing the numbers when I'm eventually ready to go for it. Last long lay off in my late 50s took a year to get back to acceptable scores at 60 - with some good stuff gone forever. Post 65 even much more modest targets are proving elusive!

[nick rockliff]

Never had a hernia op so can't give advice. I did have abdominal surgery to have ascending colon removed (cancer) which was keyhole but turned into small letterbox

I went into hospital for a morning op which lasted about two and a half hours. They had me out of bed more or less after I'd come round later that afternoon. Next day they had me going up and down stairs. Was home on the Thusday with a pack of paracetamol. The only advice I was given was to keep as active as possible to avoid adhesions.

Was back on the erg 10 days after the op (8:48 2k). Did the Grimsby 2k six weeks after the op 6:58.

I suppose you look at the advice given and make a call yourself.

[Tsnor]

...My repair was laparoscopic

Think you are on a totally different repair cycle than the open wound cycle. Disregard my comments, they really don't apply.

One thing that does apply is "block periodization". If you end up slacking for 2-4 weeks (at most for laparoscopic) then you could see some strong performance benefits especially if its been over a year since your last slack period. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZVvr0SfLD0 After considering it, even though the risk of too much load to early is low, you might choose to drop load to get the benefits of a rest period.

[Cyclist2]

cycling would be a good alternative in the early weeks (3-6) - sadly I don't have a bike, maybe need to buy a bike erg!

No comment on hernia recovery, but after my second rotator cuff surgery (early November 2022), I DID buy a BikeErg! I lost so much fitness after the first surgery - walking up and down stairs while holding my arm immobile just didn't cut it - that I wasn't going to let that happen again. Plus, I had to keep my Holiday Challenge streak going, too.

My point is, a BikeErg is a great investment. I do great workouts on it when I'm not in the rower mood, my wife uses it almost daily.

Best of luck with your recovery!

[MPx]

Cheers Nick. Yours obvs considerably more serious so amazed you managed a 2 day discharge - and 10 back to the saddle. I guess an 8:48 or slower is what I'm expecting, and I KNOW I wont be sub7 a few weeks later (or indeed ever again!) But it does give a bit more confidence that something tentative and light might be poss as long as I'm listening to how it feels. Will see how I feel next week - ie well into week 3.

Good call Mark, thanks - despite it coming from a lifelong cyclist, whereas I've not been for 50 years! I would normally have taken the option. What's holding me back is that the house is currently on the market and the last thing I need is more stuff to deal with when we move. Maybe I'll look into renting one for a month or so?

Another intresting vid Tsnor, thanks. I guess inevitably its all about elite athletes and particularly those with huge/tough training programs. I'm not in either of those camps! I do (normally) "train" every day. But that only amounts to about 50k a week and only 5-8k of that will have been my level of "hard". I don't have any problems with recovery at that level and indeed always find the session after a day off (for life reasons) is harder than the same session without the break. I think the key thing is I'm not doing periodisation, I'm not peaking for a racing season, and I'm not looking for improvement other than its cousin of trying to make the decline less steep. As such ... not convincing for me, but since I've not had a 1 week let alone longer break in the last 9 years I'll look forward to a huge step forward once I get back into it.

[Dangerscouse]

...but since I've not had a 1 week let alone longer break in the last 9 years I'll look forward to a huge step forward once I get back into it.

Best of luck with the recovery Mike, and hopefully you'll be back to where you want to be in short time

[Sakly]

once I get back into it.

Nothing to add to the topic on own experience (crossing fingers!), but wish you a speedy recovery, Mike!

[MPx]

Thanks Stu/Sascha. Recovery going well - no pain is always good - hopefully can start (gently) on the road back in the next couple of weeks! Its you guys that keep me coming back to this forum for inspiration so thanks!

[pagomichaelh]

I had a repair done in October 2023, open and mesh.

Per the doc, I waited 8 weeks to do anything besides walking, never the less, hernia re-appeared in March 2024. I'm going to try to get it repaired (again) by a different doc at the hospital during the spring break in March.

IMHO, the doc was a moron, he told me after that he took out my appendix while he was in there to save me any future grief. I was pretty upset about the whole thing, as I had an epidural, and he could have at least asked when he did it.

[Jbrown1215]

I've been off the erg for 10 days now following an Inguinal Hernia repair. As far as I can tell, it all went well....I'm fine.

Glad your repair went well, Mike, and that you're on the mend. Haven't had hernia repair myself although I did think I had one mid last-year as I had many of the symptoms often associated with an inguinal hernia. A couple specialists visits ruled it out though, thankfully.

In general I tend to be much more conservative now when managing my way back from injury. I should do the same when coming back from sickness but alas, I'm an idiot when it comes to that. As the saying goes, availability is the best ability, and I made the mistake multiple times in my long-distance running days of trying to get back to full speed too soon only to re-aggravate injuries and have to take even more time off.

As you said though, might be time (and a great excuse) to invest in a BikeErg!

[MPx]

IMHO, the doc was a moron, ...

Ouch sounds like you were properly unlucky with your guy. We're always at the mercy of whoever we get and there's a huge difference between the best and those that scraped through. I believe the laparoscopic stuff is somewhat harder to do so needs a skilled surgeon....but if you can find one, the recovery is quicker and the rate of recurrance much lower. In doing the research it wasn't clear to me why the open method is still considered the "gold standard" when the laparoscopic have so much better outcomes. Very best wishes for your second round.

[MPx]

Glad your repair went well...

Thanks Justin - I'm hearing the caution in the posts. I actually lived with my hernia without issue for over a year - didn't affect me at all - no idea what prompted its arrival. Then I got an aggressive cough just after Christmas and (without oversharing!) it was clear I couldn't live with it any longer. So if you do get something similar again in the future....don't catch a cold/flu/covid!

Meantime keep those astonishing TTs coming to keep me amused while off the erg....