Viewing 18 posts - 1 through 18 (of 18 total)
  • Riding with a Hernia
  • wotnobrakes
    Free Member

    I’ve got an inguinal Hernia that seemed to pop out during Christmas at some point. I had another one several years ago and had the keyhole surgery etc to mesh the problem. Trouble is I now commute on my bike as I sold the car several months ago due to running cost.

    Pain is not too bad yet, but starting to really feel the ‘lump’ after cycling for a while. Been referred by the docs, so will be waiting 5-6 months for the operation.

    Anyone on here riding with a Hernia? I’ve seen some sexy Hernia support pants, any recommendations?

    Cheers

    pedalhead
    Free Member

    I’m no doctor so bear that in mind, but I had a similar hernia last year. Rode for a few months with it…including 100km+ off-road rides, intervals on the turbo trainer, no problem. Just needed to pop the little bugger back in after some rides 🙂 I had very little pain with mine, only the odd ache here & there. Yours of course may be different!

    verses
    Full Member

    Mine was very painless and didn’t really stop me doing anything over the 6 months between me spotting it and it being ‘fixed’.

    Unlike the botched non-keyhole operation to repair it, which ruined me for several months 🙁
    If the other side goes, I’ll not be in a hurry to have it repaired.

    </I_am_not_a_doctor>

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    nonk
    Free Member

    maybe look into getting it done private?
    i think its about a grand and a half.
    this could be total rubbish but i was told hernia ops on the NHS are done by folks that have little time on the tools.

    verses
    Full Member

    The person who botched mine on the NHS, also works at the local private hospital…

    nonk
    Free Member

    ah right thats that theory out then.
    how you doing now then?

    verses
    Full Member

    The op was at the start of Oct 09, I was back riding gently in Jan 10, but not back to normal for a few more months.

    I can still feel the repair when pushing hard, but not to the point that it’s a problem.

    Thanks for asking 🙂

    wotnobrakes
    Free Member

    I can still feel my original one now more so than ever. Think there is a problem with the repaired one as well as a new one to look forward to.

    The joys 🙁

    nonk
    Free Member

    nice one.
    i am in a strange position in that i have all the symptoms of a hernia groin pain etc and it feels like something is finding its way to a place it shouldnt but no actual lump to speak of.
    exploratory digging about is what they want to do but i hear far to many tales like yours.

    MrOvershoot
    Full Member

    I rode for 18 months with an inguinal & umbilical Hernia.

    The inguinal one only gave me a bit of pain on long road rides where I didn’t need to get out of the saddle, the umbilical one didn’t hurt at all apart from when I caught it on the back of the saddle down some steep steps!

    Had them both done in mid November, have had complications with both in recovery infection in one & Haematoma in the groin TBH the bloke who did mine on the NHS is a very experienced bloke but I’m still not back on a bike after 8 weeks as they have only just stopped leaking.

    TBH some of this is probably my fault as I left them for a long time due to domestic situation so I guess the operation was bigger than if I had acted sooner?

    pedalhead
    Free Member

    I had mine done in October (went private). Was more or less off the bike for about a month. Happily grinding up hills on the singlespeed again now. Was bloomin uncomfortable for the first few days after the op…walking virtually doubled over. Couldn’t take a dump for a week. Think about it…stitches in stomach (mine was stitched inside too), and a weeks worth backed up & going nowhere without some major stomach muscle action 😯 . Needless to say, it was a facebook status update moment when I finally had some success there.

    Sam
    Full Member

    Similar as above, I had one about 10 years ago now, for about 12 months before it was fixed. Didn’t really cause me any discomfort while it was there, but the recovery period was pretty tough. Was off the bike for about 10 weeks afterwards.

    antigee
    Full Member

    inginual – carried on riding road miles but avoided pushing hard / rocky offroad per consultants advice as i’d already booked to ride coast and castles and was looking forward to it – bit sore sometimes but as consultant relaxed about it i was fine
    went private £1700 from memory as wanted to fix a date – recovery is tough similar to Sam above probably 10weeks before could ride and a year before could do a pull up without thinking i was ripping the stitching – and first few days just standing up is hard – all fine and dandy now though and all i remember is the advice not to do jobs like lay paving slabs – fine by me

    TandemJeremy
    Free Member

    exercise within the limits of pain is the usual advice. get some real advice from a pro tho

    You can shop around on the NHS to get a quicker service.

    Milt
    Free Member

    I think the severity of them varies greatly from person to person. I wouldn’t of considered riding between having a hernia & the op. Was running after 1 month though, road riding after 2 & back on the mtb after 3.
    I think I was used as training as I was stapled shut instead of stitched as it was “quicker”.

    MrOvershoot
    Full Member

    TandemJeremy – Member

    exercise within the limits of pain is the usual advice. get some real advice from a pro tho

    You can shop around on the NHS to get a quicker service.
    No problem with the speed of consultation or date of Operation on the NHS here in the NW but the information given by other NHS districts for post operative recovery is somewhat disjointed IMO!

    http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Inguinalherniarepair/Pages/Recovery.aspx

    http://www.northdevonhealth.nhs.uk/patientinformation/surgery/groin_hernia_repair.htm

    verses
    Full Member

    My op got postponed, twice, first by them then by me.
    On op day I was at the back of the queue so waited 5hrs before being done at about 6pm.
    Woke in recovery room at (i think) 9pm to be told I had a haematoma.
    Theatre was busy for the next 3hrs with some bloke crashing on the operating table (being told that did nothing to help my nerves!) so I had to lay there for several hours before I could go back in.
    2nd op was finished at some point after midnight and this time I was stapled rather than stitched.
    Despite having had 2 ops the night before I was made to get up, wash, dress and leave, unaided, by 9am the next day.

    Recovery took MUCH longer than the 2-4 weeks implied everywhere, due to the haematoma/2nd op.
    The pain killers caused me to pass out several times so I stopped taking them
    2 days after the op there was an ‘inverse picolax’ moment…
    There was very little info given about how recovery times change when something has gone wrong…
    I’d go a far as to say that the recovery period was the worst time of my life.

    As I said above, it was at least 8 weeks before I was riding gently, and 12 – 16 before I was riding normally. For a long time I was convinced that the repair would need to be redone as it felt ‘wrong’. I’m still ‘aware’ of it now, 14 months later, but just assume that as it’s mild, this is what they feel like.

    Still, on the plus side I managed to watch all of The Wire while I recovered 🙂

    MrOvershoot
    Full Member

    Thankfully unlike verses I didn’t have to have a second op with my haematoma but it did involve shuffling along to our practice nurse every day for over a week to have dressings changed & the stale blood pushed out through a gap in the wound 😮

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