Hernia! No more cycling?!!!!!!!!

I am absolutely gutted. Went to see the GP yesterday about a lump I found and it turns out to be a hernia. He immediately advised me to take things much easier. I said what about cycling can I cycle? He said do not push it hard just gentle aerobic exercise. All my hard work of base training, tempo and interval work is going to go down the pan in the next month or two. What can I do I ive in England and the waiting lists for hernias are 6-8 months! Cycling is a way of life and I do not know what to do. I am gonna wear a HRM and set strict limits on heart rate ceilings of 70% 143bpm for me. Has anyone got any ideas any GPs or doctors who can further advise me?
The feedback would be very much appreciated.
Best Regards
Tom

 

Sorry to hear that Tom. Hope things go well.

 

Tom,

I don't have any suggestions, sorry. I did want to wish you well.

I'm just about to start the riding season (snow melted) and I'm feeling not so good too. My knee has been bothering me and I'm fearful that I won't be able to ride for awhile. I just hope that it gets well enough to ride.

Again, take care of yourself and best wishes!

Mitch

 

tomb;

There are different types of hernias, some worse than others (though none are pleasant). I lived with a bad one for over a year, and would toss my cookies if I lifted anything over 50lbs. Still had to wait 3-4 months for surgery. The trouble with pushing it and getting in a little workout is that you may tear more of the muscle wall, and that will impact your post surgery recovery. If you are lucky your post-surgery recovery will be quick, and you will be back on the bike in a few weeks. For me I was off work for 6 weeks, and I felt uncomfortable lifting semi-heavy weights in certain ways for over a year.

Hope it all works out for the best,

-CG

 

I had a hernia two years ago when I was only 22 years old. I noticed a rather large lump that was really sore at night if I slept on my front. Never caused any pain doing weight training and during any exercise, although the lump was huge. I had the choice of waiting a year or so for an operation or going private. Luckily I was able to go private and had the operation a week later. I had laproscopic surgery which meant that I only had a 2cm long cut right under my belly button and a couple of smaller cuts below that. It was only day surgery, was only in the hospital for 3 hours or so and was able to return to work less than a week later, although still in a bit of pain (not able to stand up straight). I think I took a total of 2 weeks off training and gradually worked back into my full program. The benefit of having laproscopic surgery is that the incision is way smaller and instead of pulling the two ends of the rip in the abdominal cavity together and stiching them together, hence producing a lot of tension on the repair, they staple a mesh fabric across the opening like a patch which doesn't have any tension on it and the cavity fibres grow over and through the mesh and cover the hole. With no tension on the repair you can return to training etc quicker as there is less likelihood of ripping open the hernia again, plus the small incision heals really quickly.

I would highly recommend that you get the laproscopic surgery, your recovery will be amazingly quick and you shouldn't be off the bike too long.

It may not be as bad as you think and you may not experience what clever_guy did and have 6 weeks off work and pain for a year.

I was fairly lucky with mine so hopefully you will be as well.

Good luck

 

Hi Tom,

I am not sure when this email was posted but its April 24, 2005. I just had hernia surgery for the second time 5 days ago. This is my second indirect inguinal hernia sugery (left and right side.) I recovered nicely after the first surgery(august 2003) but I had it in early august so I did not get back on the bike until the following spring. I was diagnosed with the left side hernia in early february of this year. I was very upset because this was the first year I had ridden through the year and I was geared up to so serious 100+ mile rides in the colorado rockies this year. I thought the hernia was going to completely ruin my cycling season. However, my doctor told me that I could continue riding however I needed up until my surgery. I did this with only minor discomfort. The spandex helped keep my stuff inside. I was riding only about 30-35 miles at a time but pretty good so I did not lose everything and so that I could keep my moral up. I was unsure how quickly I was going to get back on the bike but 5 days after the surgery and I am feeling pretty good. I am guessing I will be back on the bike by at least 3 weeks after the surgery. I have a June 6 ride of 50 very hilly miles that I hope to commpete in. I think that depending on how bad your hernia is you can probably keep riding until your surgery and then get back on the bike soon after the surgery. You can also get a girdle, which does not sound very cool but is supposed to work pretty darn good. I think the initial shock of finding out about the surgery is tough but not worry, I kept going and I was ok. so keep it up. let me know how it works out.

Just realized that this post was to a really old email and Tom is probably much better now. However, maybe other people who will get freaked out by hernias will get some comfort from my experience.

 

Hi

Sorry to hear about the hernia......I had one a number of years ago - before the laproscopic methods were developed I believe.

Lucky for me I live in Toronto, and we have a hernia clinic here of some reknown (The Shouldice Clinic - all they do is repair hernias). They did a great job, but I was pretty sore afterwards. I could still feel it many months later, but only at the discomfort level.

Shit happens.

 

tomb,

I hope you're finding the advice you need.

I was diagnosed with a hernia two seasons ago, while training for several recreational century rides. My surgeon/physician assured me that I could keep riding until I was ready to schedule the repair. I finished a 2400 mile season which included four rides of 100 miles or more, and had the surgery over the following X-mas holiday.

I opted for the laproscopic surgery, and was pleased with the recovery time. I was back on a stationary trainer in three weeks, and participated in a strenuous season-opening ride eight weeks after the surgery.

I think it helped a great deal that my surgeon was active athletically, and that he'd had four hernia surgeries himself. He actually served his residency requirement with a bulging hernia that he didn't have repaired until his residency was over... I think that gave him an excellent perspective on what one should/shouldn't do (at least with that type of hernia).

Riding with a hernia was often uncomfortable, sometimes painful. But it was nowhere near as serious as I thought it would be, my imagination running amock, before I'd seen a doctor. I'm not recommending that you treat your doctor's advice more casually... but it might be helpful if you could find a surgeon with athletic experienc similar to your own, to get an accurate estimate of your cycling limitations.

Steve

 

Ahhhh... ain't socialized medicine GRAND??! </ SARC>

 

I had a hernia a few years ago.....here's where I went. Great hospital, and all they do is hernias - nothing else. Good thing for me is that I live in the city where it's located.

http://www.shouldice.com/

 

I had a hernia for 8 yrs and I still worked and rode my bike everywhere. You can live with a hernia ,but you will have to deal with the constant pain. I cannot see 1 reason where you should not be able to ride your bike. Riding my bike always made my hernia feel better. You just should not lift as where you strain, that's all.