Riding after umbilical hernia op – any experiences?

Had an op yesterday, was wondering if a anybody else had had one and how long before you rode a bike again?

Now I’d normally be the first person to take medical advice and suggest anybody asking on here talks to a proper doctor. But my surgeon is suggesting I shouldn’t ride for 6 weeks, preferably for 3 months (or until my follow up which is in almost 3 months), whilst when I first raised doing exercise he suggested maybe running in a few weeks. This gives me the impression he doesn’t actually have a very good idea of the loads on abdominal muscles from different exercise – my experience is certainly that riding a road bike uses the abs very little (you only have to look at the beer bellies on some very fast cyclists!) whilst running actually stresses them a lot more – I was planning on avoiding running for far longer.

To avoid the obvious comments I’m talking about road riding on a bicycle – my usual uni riding clearly stresses my abs a lot more (as do kayaking and climbing which I’ll also be putting off until the new year).

Ooh, I’m an expert on this 🙂 Had my op 11th October. First ride today. Guts all in place.

I was back at work the day after, but not lifting ANYTHING. Surgeon told me give it two weeks before you start light duties, so I gave it three. It’s been six weeks since the op and made damn sure not to do anything to jeopardise my recovery. Riding today was fine, off road, plenty of mud, no mauling climbs though.

Take it steady and you’ll be right. The anaesthetic knocked me for six, took about a month to not suddenly get tired.

Thanks. Don’t seem to have any problems with anaesthetic – felt kind of OK yesterday a few hours after and fine today (apart from the pain in my tummy). Was yours a keyhole, or were you out for longer?

Second time round, I had a mesh implant via keyhole. Doc said 2 weeks until full activity. No chance. I couldn’t walk to the end of the street. The Olympic Torch came past the end of the road, and it took all I had in me to get there. I ended up sitting on a fence. I think I was back on the bike after about 6 weeks.

had one done last october. 10 stich size wound above my belly button.
in and out same day, 1 week off the bike then back on taking it steady, which was all i could do anyway.

Felt great the next day, not so good for the next week and half ( bad effects from the anesthetics )

After 2 weeks was riding reasonably hard offroad as usual, no adverse effects.

Same as Ton by the sound of it – if it’s keyhole, then they have bastard great big keys. I suppose its because the surgeons all live in castles and such like.

Oh, are you on codeine? It bungs you right up – and as straining to curl one off isn’t an option, it makes for a very uncomfortable experience. That first pooh is bliss though, when it does drop out.
Don’t forget to push with your hand on your scar when you sneeze or cough.

I went to the British Hernia Centre, and had surgery with Martin Kurzer

http://martinkurzer.co.uk/

Fantastic surgeon, definitely recommend. local aneasthetic so you can literally walk out after the op, and he encourages you to do whatever you can as long as no pain. Open surgery tension free mesh repair although leaves a 8-10cm scar apparently the mesh can be placed far better than the tools used in keyhole.

I left it 6 weeks before returning to the bike, but did an absolute ton of walking from day 2. I’d try and get in 2-4 miles a day, gets blood flow to the area, speeds up healing, and helps the area all mesh together again. He did advise against jogging initially as too high impact.

painkillers I dropped the codeine and diclofenic, and switched to ibuprofen and paracetamol, with lots of prunes 😀

I had a hernia op last year ended up with a 2″ scar a couple of inches above the navel. Riding didn’t cause me any pain before the op and I was back riding on the 6th day after the op. The doc said I’d know when I was ready.

This time in 2010 I had a 2 for the price of 1 hernia op.
Umbilical & groin, very much not key hole (big scars) as I had left it for 2 years before getting a referral.

Got back on the bike after 8 weeks, but I did have complications, big bleed in the groin & infection in the umbilical.

The info on the various NHS sites used to be a joke if you want an idea of how long you’ll need after surgery (it might be better these days)
some say you could dig the garden 2 days after to not driving for 6 weeks!