Hi, tottenham. Well, your question is one I've looked around over and over to answer, and the answers vary widely. The Beverly Hills doctor to whom I linked in one of my replies above swears by allowing hernia surgery patients to start exercising, with only lifting restrictions, after just two weeks! Then there's a surgeon in this thread who insists we shouldn't start until after 8 weeks. I've seen even three months. You'll also see a common theme about simply not rushing it. I started riding again after the three week mark, twice in that following week, and it went surprisingly well, all the way through the 9th week or so, until, as I said above, when I started having severe leg pain -- which turns out to be from a bulging disc (confirmed with MRI today). Did my bulging disc come from my exuberant restarting of cycling? It may or may not have -- I've read that the larger culprit is posture and general core weakness. I suspect that's the case with me -- as well as possibly my body compensating as my abdominal area recovered and added pressure to the back. Though that could have started in the winter when my hernias formed, before I restarted the cycling season at all. So, it's hard to really answer your question. But you haven't done any exercising for five weeks, and I presume you're feeling OK. I'd say a "few miles" (presuming that doesn't mean 50) around the neighborhood would be fine and hitting the gym would be fine. You might seek your doctor's advice on which particular exercises in the gym are best. Incidentally, today I also had a second surgeon check out my repair and confirm it, itself, was in good shape, despite all the riding I did and my leg pain problems. Here's some other advice that's very reassuring as you go through recovery:
That's from this doctor's website: http://www.californiaherniaspecialists.com/hernia-recovery.html Note also how quickly, in his thorough chart on recovery, he says exercise can resume. Looking back in my case, I still would not have started after the two-week mark; my ride after the three-week mark was much slower and careful as it was. But like many in this thread say, your case is your case, and only you and your doctor (or perhaps a couple of doctors who see you personally) will know what's best for you.Keep in mind that it's not uncommon for patients to feel pulling, tugging, aches, burning, heaviness, swelling, occasional sharp pains, and overall 'discomfort' for months after hernia surgery. However, these occasional symptoms should become less and less frequent over time.