Hello,
I recently asked a training question in regards to an incisional hernia that I developed and recently had repaired. Thank you for responding. There seems to be some very conflicting and often vague guidelines for returning to strength training following a hernia repair. Understandably, it would be impossible to set one standard time frame considering the many variables of hernias and how they are repaired. As a paramedic, my surgeon initially wanted to keep me off of the road for 6 weeks, but agreed that 4 would probably be okay and he admitted many surgeons do take less conservative approaches with healing time. While I realize you are not entirely familiar with my case and not providing medical advice based on my specific scenario, what do you think a reasonable guideline for returning to SSLP would be for an average hernia repair? Additionally, in the long term, do you believe that strength training provides an anatomic benefit to preventing herniation in areas where there was previously compromised/scarred tissue? Thank you for your time.
There’s no evidence to guide recommendations on this, and neither of us are surgeons. There’s likely some undefined “continuum” of risk vs. benefit the further out you get from surgery, between the risks of surgical site complications versus the benefits of training. A couple weeks is probably reasonable (and what many of our trainees have done in the past), assuming you start the LP intelligently (i.e, light), but we can’t give confident or evidence-based answers here.