# Hernia repair recovery times / experience?



## atarione (Aug 24, 2018)

I just had Hernia surgery.. that seems to have gone well...had follow up visit the Dr. more or less says to lay off of such things for ~month or so.

Has anyone here had this surgery and if so how long did you wait to start riding and how did it go? would you have waited longer or was the month~ enough time / did you wait longer than a month. And / or did you start out riding around on the streets and if so how long did y'all wait to start that.

On the up and somewhat down side, it is currently waaay too hot for me to wanna ride here right now anyways.. better part of 100F today much too hot for me to wanna ride.. The surgery was not something I am eager to repeat so currently my plan is to wait at least the month.. if SoCal summer continues to develop as one may expect I may just wait till the fall to start riding again? 

I'm 51 just don't wanna re injure this and have to do this stuff again.. '

thank you for any input..


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## pelts79 (Feb 29, 2008)

atarione said:


> I just had Hernia surgery.. that seems to have gone well...had follow up visit the Dr. more or less says to lay off of such things for ~month or so.
> 
> Has anyone here had this surgery and if so how long did you wait to start riding and how did it go? would you have waited longer or was the month~ enough time / did you wait longer than a month. And / or did you start out riding around on the streets and if so how long did y'all wait to start that.
> 
> ...


I had a couple of them done over the years, one at about your age. Yes, it is a month to 6 weeks downtime. Heal up, it will go by quick. It didn't take long to get back to where I left off.


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## Polk (Jan 19, 2004)

I just had surgery one month and two days ago. I am 48, so similar there. I waited three weeks and then started riding GENTLY. My first ride was toodling around the neighborhood for less than an hour. My effort was similar to going for a walk. Each ride since then I have gradually increased the effort. My last ride, which was exactly on the one month mark, was a two hour trail ride on an easy trail, at a moderate effort. I will probably take another two to 2 1/2 weeks to ramp up to full effort. I have had no problems and no discomfort. Could I ramp it up quicker? Maybe. But I would rather take an extra week or two getting back up to speed than going a little too fast.


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## Sparticus (Dec 28, 1999)

I'm 4 days post-op today. 67 years old. My first surgery ever.

Three hernias fixed -- two inguinal, one umbilical. Yeah, it hurts, but...

Three weeks? Seriously? I ain't waitin' no three weeks. Maybe two. Probably less, tho. I'm going camping this weekend. Once I start riding again (maybe this weekend), it'll be aboard the ebike. But I'll be back to pedals pretty quick -- I expect my new Canfield Lithium frame to arrive sometime within the next 10 days.
=sParty


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## atarione (Aug 24, 2018)

Sparticus said:


> I'm 4 days post-op today. 67 years old. My first surgery ever.
> 
> Three hernias fixed -- two inguinal, one umbilical. Yeah, it hurts, but...
> 
> ...


I respect you enthusiasm, I'd rather take a bit longer and reduce the odds of having to do the surgery again for my part...


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## Sparticus (Dec 28, 1999)

atarione said:


> I respect you enthusiasm, I'd rather take a bit longer and reduce the odds of having to do the surgery again for my part...


Go for it, brutha. UBU -- we must each make our own way.
My doc told me to let my desire to move be my guide. While I won't be hitting any gaps, I'm sure as heck gonna move.
Best to you,
=sParty


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## disgustipated (Apr 29, 2006)

I had an inguinal hernia in high school like 25 years ago. The recover time went quick. I was young. What sticks out in my mind tho, was a couple weeks post op, the right side of my scrotum was huge. Probably close to the size of a small apple, and purple. Doc had to remove a few vials of blood that pooled up in there. That was some of the worst pain I've experienced.


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## mudflap (Feb 23, 2004)

Ten years ago I had inguinal hernia surgery, but don't remember my recovery time. What I do remember is that ice was my best friend for a week or two. It didn't take much to aggravate the area down there and ice was my only salvation when things started hurting. Pain meds would have worked too, I suppose, but I hate taking them, so i relied on ice to do the trick.
Within the first couple days, I dug out our septic tank and drain field connection with a backhoe, and hand shovel for the close work. Looking back on that, I don't think I was down for too long, maybe three or four weeks before hitting the trails.
Another thing, the doc told me the mesh he used wouldn't move or cause discomfort. Well that was bs. Every time I get on my bike there is a sharp pain associated with the mesh, but it dissipates after thirty seconds or so, but there are some good horror stories about mesh moving and causing major issues in some people.


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## Sparticus (Dec 28, 1999)

mudflap said:


> Ten years ago I had inguinal hernia surgery, but don't remember my recovery time. What I do remember is that ice was my best friend for a week or two. It didn't take much to aggravate the area down there and ice was my only salvation when things started hurting. Pain meds would have worked too, I suppose, but I hate taking them, so i relied on ice to do the trick.
> Within the first couple days, I dug out our septic tank and drain field connection with a backhoe, and hand shovel for the close work. Looking back on that, I don't think I was down for too long, maybe three or four weeks before hitting the trails.
> Another thing, the doc told me the mesh he used wouldn't move or cause discomfort. Well that was bs. Every time I get on my bike there is a sharp pain associated with the mesh, but it dissipates after thirty seconds or so, but there are some good horror stories about mesh moving and causing major issues in some people.


I'm hoping surgical materials have improved during the past 10 years.
He said with a whimper.
=sParty


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## Lopaka (Sep 7, 2006)

It depends on what type of surgery you had. I had robotic inguinal mesh done by an extremely talented and experienced surgeon. I was back on the bike in 10 days. Easy Peasy.


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## Sparticus (Dec 28, 1999)

Lopaka said:


> It depends on what type of surgery you had. I had robotic inguinal mesh done by an extremely talented and experienced surgeon. I was back on the bike in 10 days. Easy Peasy.


Likewise. Robot assisted laparoscopy. I went for a short ebike ride yesterday (just on neighborhood streets).
Then the LBS called yesterday afternoon to let my GF know that the Specialized Levo SL she ordered last September finally arrived -- we'll pick it up today. Of course she's way stoked.
This pretty much insures we'll be ebiking together when we go camping this weekend. I'm going to have to do my best to hold back when it comes to activity. I genuinely don't want to overdo it and I _*really *_don't want to crash.
YOLO!
=sParty


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## Polk (Jan 19, 2004)

Polk said:


> I just had surgery one month and two days ago. I am 48, so similar there. I waited three weeks and then started riding GENTLY. My first ride was toodling around the neighborhood for less than an hour. My effort was similar to going for a walk. Each ride since then I have gradually increased the effort. My last ride, which was exactly on the one month mark, was a two hour trail ride on an easy trail, at a moderate effort. I will probably take another two to 2 1/2 weeks to ramp up to full effort. I have had no problems and no discomfort. Could I ramp it up quicker? Maybe. But I would rather take an extra week or two getting back up to speed than going a little too fast.


Update- I rode my local loop last night, which links up parks throughout the city and has plenty of short, punchy climbs. I found myself going up most of them out of the saddle, as always. While I was not going race pace, I was putting in some solid efforts. I felt fine during and after the ride, and still feel fine today. Now I just need to get some fitness back!


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## bikerider2 (Nov 9, 2011)

I had the surgery in May 17, 4 weeks ago. I had robot assisted double inguinial hernia. I'm 52 and have been riding for 30 years consistently. I waited until this past Saturday to ride and felt great on a 10 mile hilly mtb ride. The next day I hopped on my road ride and had to turn around, only did 15 miles. The drop to the bars on road bike just made it really uncomfortable. I'm going to try and do an mtb ride today after work, but i've had some sharper pain the past 2 days. Good luck on your recovery


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## Polk (Jan 19, 2004)

bikerider2 said:


> I had the surgery in May 17, 4 weeks ago. I had robot assisted double inguinial hernia. I'm 52 and have been riding for 30 years consistently. I waited until this past Saturday to ride and felt great on a 10 mile hilly mtb ride. The next day I hopped on my road ride and had to turn around, only did 15 miles. The drop to the bars on road bike just made it really uncomfortable. I'm going to try and do an mtb ride today after work, but i've had some sharper pain the past 2 days. Good luck on your recovery


Hopefully you can get on the road bike soon! I went out yesterday, which was five weeks post-surgery, on my gravel/road bike and it felt fine. Even occasionally in the drops, and pushing the pace a little bit. I was a little concerned about the low bar position as well, which was why I waited to get on that bike.


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## Sparticus (Dec 28, 1999)

I'm at day 8 post-op; quit taking pain meds yesterday.
Want to be in touch with my body's actual recovery level.
Being allergic to narcotics, I'd only been taking ibuprofen anyway.
But after quitting IB 24 hours ago, I'll say I'm surprised at how effective a painkiller IB is.
Anyway, gonna try not to take anymore drugs.
Going camping for 4 days tomorrow, taking the ebike.
Won't do any jumps.
=sParty


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## bikerider2 (Nov 9, 2011)

Sparticus said:


> I'm at day 8 post-op; quit taking pain meds yesterday.
> Want to be in touch with my body's actual recovery level.
> Being allergic to narcotics, I'd only been taking ibuprofen anyway.
> But after quitting IB 24 hours ago, I'll say I'm surprised at how effective a painkiller IB is.
> ...


Good for you on getting out. I was trying to be as patient as possible as I want to be back up at a higher level this fall. I took one pain pill before leaving the hospital and nothing after that.


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## ehayes (Jun 25, 2019)

Depends how quickly your body recovers. Every person is different. I would not start riding before your surgeon okays it. It could take longer. Listen to your body.

I had bilateral inguinal and femoral hernias (yes four, I hit the hernia lottery) repaired mid January 2020. I started riding the end of March (2 months later), but did not push myself yet. By May (4 months post op), I could do whatever I wanted with little to no pain or odd feelings. Be aware when you start back being active, you may feel weird pulling or foreign body sensations in the repair area. This is normal. It goes down over time. At 1.5 years post op now I rarely feel anything.


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## Sparticus (Dec 28, 1999)

I’ve ridden my ebike 50 miles on single & doubletrack (mostly the latter) throughout the past 2 days.
Today is post-op day 12 for me.
Planning to ride another 25 miles today.
Best to my fellow surgery recoverers.
=sParty


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## jay_paradox (Oct 21, 2020)

I stuck with what my surgeon recommended. Last thing I wanted was to have to get a second surgery because I jumped the gun. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Sparticus (Dec 28, 1999)

jay_paradox said:


> I stuck with what my surgeon recommended. Last thing I wanted was to have to get a second surgery because I jumped the gun.


Same here.


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## mosovich (Apr 19, 2004)

So I have a bikepacking trip basically on a greenway in October. 50 miles a day.. Should be flat, with cruiser pace. I'm praying I'll be fine as I don't have a way to get back to where I start without riding.. LOL..


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## thegolffather (Mar 12, 2021)

jay_paradox said:


> I stuck with what my surgeon recommended. Last thing I wanted was to have to get a second surgery because I jumped the gun.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I got my first surgery I am 59 for a bi-inguinal hernia. I had the surgery on a Monday , by Wednesday I went to work climbed a flight of stairs. It hurt especially coughing, sneezing and laughing. It has now been 11 days since. I feel much better but still could feel the mesh in there. I would not like to go thru this again. I see the doctor on the 15th. Maybe I stay off the bike for a while (8 weeks) and just do some swimming.....😟😟


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