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Post by Chris W on Mar 9, 2016 18:41:33 GMT -7
Anyone have any practical experience with inguinal hernia repairs? It appears that, in my advanced young age of 33, I'm coming apart at the seams. I got a surgical consult today. While the hernia isn't preventing me from doing anything yet, hernias typically just get bigger with time. I'm planning the repair two weeks after my spring season ends (once the weather becomes too hot and humid for my lily white skin).
It looks like I'll be out of work (yeah!!!) for about a week (mentally taxing) and out of training for four weeks (booo!!!). Four weeks of no training of any sort, including fun non-climbing stuff, is going to be killer.
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Post by iepsje on Mar 10, 2016 5:57:45 GMT -7
Chris, I will ask my boyfirend Peter, he had an inguinal hernia repaired in january 2015. It took him unfortunately quite some time to get back. It was really painfull to be back in the harness even after 4 weeks. But it really depends on the size of the hernia, the type of repair and the amount of scar tissue (as you already had a repair before). Do you know what technique they are going to use for the repair? Sew it bach together, or use a medical implant mat (type of mat and type of placement?). Are they performing the repair from inside (laproscopic?) or from outside? This all has an influence on your recovery, chance of reoccurence and pain.. Good luck!
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Post by MarkAnderson on Mar 10, 2016 11:59:57 GMT -7
I know a member of this board who has had an inguinal hernia or two repaired. Hopefully he will chime in, but if not, he told me it took about 4 weeks till he could start light climbing, then ~10 weeks till he was feeling completely back to normal. He also said he put off getting it repaired for a while, it may have grown during that period which could have made matters worse (my conjecture). There are different methods of repair, so do your homework on which is best for your situation.
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Post by Chris W on Mar 10, 2016 21:24:58 GMT -7
Thanks for the insight guys.
The repair will need to be open, as opposed to laproscopic. This is by far the safer of the two options for me (how many other climbers do you know who take warfarin?). It will be done with mesh. While these two factors will slightly increase my recover time, they will also lower the rate of recurrence from about 5% to 3%, assuming I behave myself and rest the full 4 weeks as instructed. I haven't had a hernia repair before, but I'm sure my belly will be full of adhesions from when my appendix exploded back in college.
I'm a bit disappointed to hear the "real" recovery time was greater than 4 weeks, but I suppose this is what I assumed. The surgeon knows me from residency and knows I'm active. Thanks for the replies, and please let me know what else you find out.
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Post by slimshaky on Mar 14, 2016 14:50:46 GMT -7
I know a member of this board who has had an inguinal hernia or two repaired. Hopefully he will chime in, but if not, he told me it took about 4 weeks till he could start light climbing, then ~10 weeks till he was feeling completely back to normal. He also said he put off getting it repaired for a while, it may have grown during that period which could have made matters worse (my conjecture). There are different methods of repair, so do your homework on which is best for your situation. This might be me, although it could also be somebody else i had a bilateral inguinal hernia (i think that's what it is called) repaired in may of 2010. i had noticed that i had a weird bulge in my lower right abdomen, that i could 'poke' back into place for short periods of time. i probably had it for a few months before getting it checked out. maybe as long 6 months or so. i also had another hernia (not sure what it was called, but a small one right above my belly button) for probably 10 years or so. it would pop out when i did curls or other certain physical activities. so, i went and had it worked on and they did a quick little stitch repair on the belly button hernia. they found that i had the inguinal hernia on both sides (left and right, hence bilateral). basically, the doctor "wallpapered my insides with kevlar". they did it laproscopically, which was pretty amazing. i had never had general anasthesia - that was probably the scariest part heading into the operation, but it's like all of a sudden you wake up and ask if they are ready to start the surgery (and they start laughing). within a week i was able to go on a couple mile light hike. in 2 weeks i could do a little light jogging. in 4 weeks i could do some light slab climbing. at 8 weeks i felt like i was about 90% or so, but i didn't feel trying anything super core intensive. at about 3 months, maybe 4 months or so i could do inversion OW's again. i was a bit nervous going into it - my father in law had a similar surgery but his recovery was really rough. i think he waited too late to do it though and was starting to have some pretty serious problems. his recovery was probably 2 years or so. it has been almost 6 years and i haven't had really any issues with it. i think that area feels a little 'tight' sometimes. for example, if i am hanging on a pullup bar and i bend my knees and lift my feet behind me with a really arched back and stretch out my abs, it just feels kind of straining. other than that minor thing, it seems like it went pretty well.
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Post by Chris W on Mar 14, 2016 17:47:29 GMT -7
Thanks for the perspective Slim. You had a bilateral inguinal hernia repair with mesh, and an umbilical hernia repair. I know that, when I have true pain, it's something to pay attention to and figure out. The thing that has me a little worried is knowing I'm going to have pain, knowing I'll be working through it, but not necessarily knowing if I'm pushing things too hard. I don't mind pain, but I don't want to damage myself either. Right now, the thing I think will be the hardest is not being able to throw my kids around. My son, especially, won't understand why Daddy can't throw him in the air or flip him over.
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Post by Matt McCormick on Apr 3, 2016 5:49:01 GMT -7
Hey Chris,
I had an Inguinal hernia repair w/ mesh in late March of 2013. I had a Karakoram expedition planned for later that summer and was really freaking out about whether I'd be recovered enough to train in time for the trip. Roughly 4 weeks after the surgery I went to Yosemite and gingerly climbed up to 5.11 although if I had to do it over again I probably wouldn't push it that early. I started walking and slowly running as soon as possible to get the blood flowing and speed recovery. At the time I wasn't training for performance rock climbing so it was actually easier to get back on a training schedule of non-climbing fitness. Hanging from a hang board seemed pretty out of the question for while after the surgery due to the pulling/stretching sensation in the abdomen. The biggest thing I'd say is that even months later I still felt it and even still notice it now if I do any core training that really hits the lower abs. Apparently that is fairly common due to the scar tissue and nerves in the area.
Good luck with the surgery. I can't say it's the most casual recovery process but you'll be back at it soon enough. One year from the surgery I red pointed my hardest route ever! Feel free to hit me up with any questions.
Matt
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Post by Chris W on May 10, 2016 18:07:50 GMT -7
OK, surgery sucks.
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Post by MarkAnderson on May 11, 2016 11:31:49 GMT -7
Get well soon!
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Post by Chris W on May 11, 2016 18:17:56 GMT -7
Thanks! I'm surprised by how incapacitated I am at the moment. My surgeon just laughed and said something like "I told you so!"
In the event anyone else finds themselves in a similar position and has questions, I'll be documenting my recovery process in my training logs.
My hope is to start a hangboard phase at 4 weeks post op. If I'm able to do this, it would only give me two "rest" weeks, then I would start with my fall season, doing two ARC weeks followed by the next strength phase.
Any thoughts on this approach?
It may all be a moot point anyway if I can't hang in a harness in 4 weeks. If that's the case, I'll just ARC lightly until my real fall season starts on July 17th
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Post by Chris W on May 16, 2016 17:41:53 GMT -7
So...
Saw the surgeon today and pulled the staples; looks like everything is going well, but she says I really should wait a full 6 weeks before resuming my training. 6 weeks post op will give me exactly 4 weeks before I start my fall training season. At this point, should I:
1) Basically ARC for 6 weeks and rebuild core and climbing muscle strength. I could try to get outside at my crag several times to re-climb some favorites.
2) HB phase x 4 weeks then jump right into fall, with 2 weeks ARC followed by strength phase.
I'm leaning a bit more toward option 1 as the smarter of the two paths. Any thoughts? With any luck, the restraints on my activity won't land me in an asylum.
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Post by Chris W on Aug 25, 2016 20:42:04 GMT -7
It doesn't appear, at this time, that my 6 weeks off for recovery has set me back. I essentially skipped a transitional summer season because of it (HB and power workouts). Once I was allowed to workout again, I did a prolonged ARC phase (ARC'd on the 35 wall for the first time at the end of the ARC phase) and worked on rebuilding overall core strength. I also took a nice mental break, spending a lot of time swimming with the kids (it's too hot and humid in the summer here to do much else).
Just finished my HB phase for the fall season. I felt weak starting, but still managed new PB's on all the grips except for the Forge Crimp, which I matched.
Overall, I'm surprised [and intrigued by the fact] that I don't seem to have lost ground from the ordeal. I suppose the real test will be once I start my performance phase.
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Post by Elvis K on Apr 26, 2017 18:30:41 GMT -7
Ok so I am late to the party, I am getting inguinal hernia repair this monday. Thank you Chris for documenting your experience very thoroughly. It gives me hope.
Chris, do you think that at any point prior to the 4 weeks of recovery, that you could have done some hangboarding? I bought a bunch of grip trainers hoping that I could maintain some strength. Did you try anything like that. Thanks!
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Post by firebug on Aug 24, 2017 13:11:33 GMT -7
Now it´s my turn for inguinal surgery. Chris / Elvis (anyone else): anything you learned or that I should discuss with my surgeon?
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Post by Chris W on Aug 24, 2017 20:32:10 GMT -7
I think the main thing is having a surgeon you trust and really following their directions. The hardest thing for me was NOT training. After two weeks, I was going stir crazy, and it was really hard to wait a full six weeks before I was allowed to pick up my kids again. I purposefully timed the surgery so that I had finished my performance phase, so as long as it's not a strangulated hernia and it's not stopping you, you could schedule it when it's convenient. I think it's pretty important to let your surgeon know that you train hard and what your physical goals are. They should know that you're a rock climber and will be bomb testing their work and that you're not a 9-5 engineer geek who just sits in a cube all day and files his skin (sorry Mark!). Elvis, I'm so sorry I didn't see your post until now. Your post corresponded with my last trip to the NRG when I was away from my computer. Hope everything went well. I wasn't purposefully ignoring you.
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