Grapplearts: More on Hernia Recovery
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Stephan Kesting
Mar 2, 2009, 2:17:25 AM3/2/09
to New Grapplearts Newsletter
HERNIA RECOVERY (CONTINUED)
A few weeks ago I wrote about getting an inguinal hernia on New Year's
Day and my subsequent surgery.
http://www.grapplearts.com/2009/02/coming-back-from-training-layoff.htm
(For those of you who don't know, this type of hernia is when your
intestines start protruding through a weakness or tear in your
abdominal wall and show up as a bulge on the outside of your belly.
These hernias may become strangulated, painful and infected, and if
untreated might even kill you!)
First of all, thank you very much to all those who got in touch with
wishes of a speedy and complete recovery. I'm happy to say that I'm
doing great - I've even had a couple of light sparring sessions which
was a ton of fun after 6 weeks away from the mats!
I've also received some emails with questions about hernias. To my
knowledge this subject has never been addressed in the context of BJJ
or submission grappling. So long as everybody understands that I AM
NOT A DOCTOR I'm going to take a stab at answering some of the
questions:
--------------------------------------------------
Q: How long does it take to recover from hernia surgery and get back
to BJJ and grappling?
A: Well, predictably the answer is "it depends." As far as I can
figure out, it depends on a number of factors, including
1 - what type of hernia you have (inguinal, femoral, umbilical, etc.)
and how bad it is,
2 - what type of surgery you had to repair it (synthetic mesh,
internal stitches, etc.),
3 - what your fitness level was prior to the injury,
4 - whether there were any complications during or after surgery
(hemorrhage, infection, etc.),
5 - etc.
And sometimes you get conflicting information. For example, when I
checked out of the hospital a nurse handed me a pamphlet with
instructions not to lift more than 10 pounds for 4 to 6 weeks!
I was very surprised, therefore, when I visited the surgeon for a
followup visit and told me that I could get back to FULL activity even
though only 2 weeks had gone by since the surgery. He said that the 4
to 6 week rest period recommended by the pamphet was based on old
surgical techniques.
So the bottom line is that recovery times seem to be getting a lot
shorter (especially for mesh-based surgeries), but YOU REALLY NEED TO
TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR OR SURGEON before getting back to training of any
kind!
--------------------------------------------------
Q: What was your post-surgery workout schedule like?
A: Here was my rough schedule
a - first two weeks after surgery - absolutely NOTHING.
b -After two weeks I got the OK to 'get back to everything' from my
surgeon. Frankly this sounded a bit over-optimistic, and I decided on
a gradual back-to-grappling program.
c - For the next week I only did light bodyweight exercises and light
BJJ technique drilling with a considerate partner.
d - Then I did a week of light circuit training with weights (i.e. no
heavy squats or deadlifts) and continued with the light partner
drilling
e - A month post-surgery I'm in a phase of doing slightly heavier
weight training (still no squatting with more than 245 lbs though), a
bit of running, and some easy sparring with people at least 10 lbs
lighter than me
As I've said before, I'm determined NOT to get re-injured (or get a
different injury) during this post-surgery comeback, so I'm actually
being pretty disciplined about not doing too much, too soon.
--------------------------------------------------
Q: If a fit guy like you can get a hernia, what about the rest of us?
How can we prevent hernias?
A: Well there are a lot of different types of hernias. As I
understand it, prevention depends on the exact type of hernia that
you're talking about.
I had what is known as a "direct inguinal hernia," which has a strong
genetic component. This means that a family history of this condition
means that you're more likely to get it too (and, in fact, my Dad had
a hernia surgery a couple of years ago).
It's clear that picking the right parents is probably the best way to
avoid these types of hernias.
On the other hand, some other types of hernias are more related to
excessive body weight and/or lack of muscle tone. Staying fit,
avoiding obesity and keeping your abdominal wall strong through
exercise is probably your best bet to avoid these types of 'lifestyle'
hernias.
I'm just so very very glad that I had the mostly-genetic type of
hernia, because of the saving face factor. I know I'd never live it
down if I'd come down with an optional lifestyle hernia....
--------------------------------------------------
OK, that's enough of me playing doctor! I'm working on a couple of
tips that are directly related to grappling, and I'll send them out
soon.
Stephan Kesting
Grapplearts.com
A few weeks ago I wrote about getting an inguinal hernia on New Year's
Day and my subsequent surgery.
http://www.grapplearts.com/2009/02/coming-back-from-training-layoff.htm
(For those of you who don't know, this type of hernia is when your
intestines start protruding through a weakness or tear in your
abdominal wall and show up as a bulge on the outside of your belly.
These hernias may become strangulated, painful and infected, and if
untreated might even kill you!)
First of all, thank you very much to all those who got in touch with
wishes of a speedy and complete recovery. I'm happy to say that I'm
doing great - I've even had a couple of light sparring sessions which
was a ton of fun after 6 weeks away from the mats!
I've also received some emails with questions about hernias. To my
knowledge this subject has never been addressed in the context of BJJ
or submission grappling. So long as everybody understands that I AM
NOT A DOCTOR I'm going to take a stab at answering some of the
questions:
--------------------------------------------------
Q: How long does it take to recover from hernia surgery and get back
to BJJ and grappling?
A: Well, predictably the answer is "it depends." As far as I can
figure out, it depends on a number of factors, including
1 - what type of hernia you have (inguinal, femoral, umbilical, etc.)
and how bad it is,
2 - what type of surgery you had to repair it (synthetic mesh,
internal stitches, etc.),
3 - what your fitness level was prior to the injury,
4 - whether there were any complications during or after surgery
(hemorrhage, infection, etc.),
5 - etc.
And sometimes you get conflicting information. For example, when I
checked out of the hospital a nurse handed me a pamphlet with
instructions not to lift more than 10 pounds for 4 to 6 weeks!
I was very surprised, therefore, when I visited the surgeon for a
followup visit and told me that I could get back to FULL activity even
though only 2 weeks had gone by since the surgery. He said that the 4
to 6 week rest period recommended by the pamphet was based on old
surgical techniques.
So the bottom line is that recovery times seem to be getting a lot
shorter (especially for mesh-based surgeries), but YOU REALLY NEED TO
TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR OR SURGEON before getting back to training of any
kind!
--------------------------------------------------
Q: What was your post-surgery workout schedule like?
A: Here was my rough schedule
a - first two weeks after surgery - absolutely NOTHING.
b -After two weeks I got the OK to 'get back to everything' from my
surgeon. Frankly this sounded a bit over-optimistic, and I decided on
a gradual back-to-grappling program.
c - For the next week I only did light bodyweight exercises and light
BJJ technique drilling with a considerate partner.
d - Then I did a week of light circuit training with weights (i.e. no
heavy squats or deadlifts) and continued with the light partner
drilling
e - A month post-surgery I'm in a phase of doing slightly heavier
weight training (still no squatting with more than 245 lbs though), a
bit of running, and some easy sparring with people at least 10 lbs
lighter than me
As I've said before, I'm determined NOT to get re-injured (or get a
different injury) during this post-surgery comeback, so I'm actually
being pretty disciplined about not doing too much, too soon.
--------------------------------------------------
Q: If a fit guy like you can get a hernia, what about the rest of us?
How can we prevent hernias?
A: Well there are a lot of different types of hernias. As I
understand it, prevention depends on the exact type of hernia that
you're talking about.
I had what is known as a "direct inguinal hernia," which has a strong
genetic component. This means that a family history of this condition
means that you're more likely to get it too (and, in fact, my Dad had
a hernia surgery a couple of years ago).
It's clear that picking the right parents is probably the best way to
avoid these types of hernias.
On the other hand, some other types of hernias are more related to
excessive body weight and/or lack of muscle tone. Staying fit,
avoiding obesity and keeping your abdominal wall strong through
exercise is probably your best bet to avoid these types of 'lifestyle'
hernias.
I'm just so very very glad that I had the mostly-genetic type of
hernia, because of the saving face factor. I know I'd never live it
down if I'd come down with an optional lifestyle hernia....
--------------------------------------------------
OK, that's enough of me playing doctor! I'm working on a couple of
tips that are directly related to grappling, and I'll send them out
soon.
Stephan Kesting
Grapplearts.com
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