I had a open bilateral inguinal hernia repair last mid-June.
None of this keyhole nonsense for me - two 6" scars. Ouch!
Was a bit miffed as despite the hernias being described as "large" they only ached when I sneezed.
I was kept in overnight after the op and allowed home the next day. Was work for two weeks - moping around and sleeping a lot. Tried working from home a bit but got uncomfortable.
Post-op my surgeon said I could ride gently to work after two and a bit weeks - if only for the reason that I had no other way of getting to the office.
I was told to take it gently and to stop if it hurt - I pushed up the hill for the first few days. I used a Brompton for the first week of this to reduce the need to lift my leg over the cross bar.
After three and a half weeks I went for a spin on my road bike. In hindsight I did too much - 30 hills with an 800ft climb. I got half-way and ached like hell but had no choice but to carry on to get home. I started MTBing after 6 weeks and had no problem with this other than a loss of mojo and pain if I slammed my saddle into the scars. Ouch!
I found the best way to recover was to do some gentle exercise and then rest for a couple of hours before doing a bit more. I slept a lot too!
Chatting a while later to a friend who's a physio and cyclist he reckoned I'd got the recovery process spot on - gentle exercise stops lesions from forming, which is a big risk and causes a lot of pain.
At the end of August I set off on a hilly 6-day cycle tour of Northumbria. I aimed at 40-60 miles a day which caused no problems. Lack of strength and stamina was a bigger problem than hernia pain. Normally I'd aim at 60-80 miles a day but that would have been too much having lost three months of hard cycling (by my standards).
Oh - and riding a fixie ached for several months post-op, but again I think it may have been helping the recovery process.
Hope this helps - good luck with your recovery!
Nine months on, I get the occasional ache only.
Nothing useful to add, but whatever happens, just wanted to wish you good luck and a fast recovery. Hope life's treating you well otherwise, cheers me babber! Giler.
