Returning to lifting after Hernia Surgery

[David Lee]

So, I had my laproscopic surgery with mesh repair on 7/18--turned out I needed bilateral inguinal and a single umbilical repair(trifecta). I stopped lifting mid-June when I found out I had 3, and one started hurting.

I plan to start squatting & pressing tomorrow with just the bar & hope to be back to some decent weights in 3-5 weeks. I have just a little pain, and I occasionally feel an adhesion tearing(I think) around the umbilical area.

I'm concerned about the powerclean--how do you get back to it, & should I wait a while?

Also, the incisions are right where my belt goes, so I'm thinking the smart thing is to do the best I can without a belt for the first 6-8 weeks until the incision heals.

I would appreciate your thoughts.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Do NOT lift without a belt, you fool. The incisions be damned, your abdomen is your primary concern. Don't clean for a couple of months, and then start light. The catch will be the problem. The inguinal shit will heal just fine, but I'm more worried about the umbilical, with which I have no experience.

[ColoWayno]

I gave it a little less than 3 weeks post op (umblilcal) before starting with the bar. The doctor said to wait 3 weeks and to start light.
I cheated by a couple of days, not a couple of weeks.
What's the rush? Probably boredom.

[David Lee]

Do NOT lift without a belt, you fool. The incisions be damned, your abdomen is your primary concern. Don't clean for a couple of months, and then start light. The catch will be the problem. The inguinal shit will heal just fine, but I'm more worried about the umbilical, with which I have no experience.

Thanks Mark.

I think I'll just wait until I can ask the doc about the umbilical at my 8/2 follow-up. Another week and a half won't matter much at this point.

[David Lee]

From a Travis Prewitt post re: umbilical hernia on 1-2-2010:

I manage these a bit differently post op and restrict patient from heavy lifting for a couple of weeks postop as opposed to indirect inguinal hernias who I left go back to full activities when they felt ok.

I am more conservative with UH repairs because the anatomy is different. An indirect inguinal hernia descends down a canal, and the Perfix plug sits in the canal. The mesh has a velcro-like effect and just sits there. A single stitch can keep it in place (and many surgeons over do this repair with too many sutures of the onlay mesh, negating many of the benefits of the repair).

A Ventralex mesh repair sits just inside the fascia and is sewn to the fascia with at least several sutures. It likewise is tension free. I doubt there are any data to support restricted activities, but the fact that there is only skin separating the mesh from the environment with a intervening canal to help keep things in places made me more conservative.

And I would usually see UH patients, at least larger ones, for about 3 months.

Complications of UH are usually recurrence and wound. Not unusual to see some superficial epidermalysis (dead skin) in a UH because of the aforementioned anatomy, but this typically does well with conservative management. Can't remember seeing chronic pain from a UH, and can't remember taking out an infected mesh.

Your forum is awesome for many reasons.