Skiing after a hernia opp, how long to wait .

A snowHead

I've had a moderate inguinal hernia which i first noticed about 6 weeks ago. Amazingly the NHS have booked me a slot for a repair opp on Dec 21st.
I've been and met the surgeon who ran me through the process ,done under local and will involve a mesh being installed , he said to avoid my declared activities of biking and skiing for 6 weeks. This obviously eats into the 'potential' ski season heavily and will result in a loss of fitness .
It would be stupid to delay the opp as i've been incredibly fortunate to get this slot but i just wondered if any one has had the same and the expected recovery time .
I looked on line and the Nhs say activities such as walking and biking can resume just about straight away, or as soon as is comfortable to do so . I like this advice much better .

Anyone had similar ?

Thanks, Dave

A snowHead

IMV. The best person to listen to on this, is the Surgeon who is doing the op.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@scarbski, well done on the fast op. My Dad has been in a lot of pain with a more severe one since August, saw the surgeon in October, and is still waiting. I think gentle cycling and walking are not quite the same thing a biking and skiing.

This is the information page from the Royal College of Surgeons. https://www.rcseng.ac.uk/patient-care/recovering-from-surgery/groin-hernia-repair/

You need to Login to know who's really who.

And as @Old Fartbag says the correct answer is ..............six weeks.

Why would you trust the surgeon to cut you open, fix it but then ignore his recovery advice because it doesn't suit you? Gentle exercise maybe after two weeks but wait on the normal stuff until he says. Likely he’ll see you before the six weeks is up to see how its going, he might change advice when he sees you. But just listen to it , why risk setting back your recovery for the sake of a few weeks. (And I have had two of these before you ask, not that it should matter).

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Thanks guys, all sound advice i'm sure . As said it would be crazy to turn down the opp so i'll have to see how things go.
It will be end of Jan/early Feb at the earliest so hopefully resorts will be open at that stage ?? (but who knows)
Hells Bells - Hope your dad gets an appointment v soon , seems unfair !

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@scarbski, best of luck with it.

Its great you got a date so quickly. I remember mine hurt like buggery when trying to do normal stuff , hurt even worse for a few days after the op but such a relief to get sorted and back to normal

After all it is free

The mountains will be there next year. Get your health sorted even if it means no skiing - which may not even be possible this year due to covid anyway.

You haven't said whether the repair will be open surgery or laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery. Oddly enough, my surgeon said that they would not carry out keyhole surgery under local aneasthetic.

I have had two hernia repairs, and the advice was that I could resume everything including heavy lifting after four weeks in both cases. However both of these were carried out as keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic, and, comparing notes with a friend who had open surgery, the recovery from keyhole surgery is very much more rapid than open surgery. So recovery times quoted on web sites may not apply to the type surgery proposed to repair your hernia.

The key question for me was whether an activity is likely to damage the repair and the advice was that the mesh would be firmly in place after two weeks. I don't expect this would be the case for open surgery. Of course your surgeon is the best person to give advice.

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I had keyhole surgery mid December a few years back here in France, the surgeon, a keen skier, advised 3 weeks rest before skiing,I was out on new Year's day 19 days later, admittedly just on piste, he said the most important thing for the first few weeks was not lifting anything heavier than 5kg!
I explained to him I was a free-skier and he said fine!
YMMV.......

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

I also had open surgery on the other side several years ago, omg it was so painful the next day, I had to walk down our hallway holding on to the walls! Keyhole rules as far as I'm concerned

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Interesting and fortuitous post. I have a double hernia at the moment. One side worse than the other. They’ve been there for months, but are more noticeable since I lost two stone. They don’t hurt. Occasionally the worst one niggles a little. Spoke to my GP, she said best to leave it for as long as possible with Covid doing the rounds in hospitals. I was wondering about how long it would be after an op before I could go skiing. Now I know. Thanks all.

Thanks again for replies,
The opp will be open surgery (gulp) which is supposedly less traumatic than the key hole hence local aesthetic . By the sounds of replies its going to be pretty tender for a while .
I have to attend the hospital for a covid test a week before the opp then isolate until D day.
Also mine doesn't really hurt but more uncomfortable at the moment , i'm advised that it will only get worse though and should have it seen to asap , at which point he opened the diary and offered me a number of dates ! I took the earliest like a shot.
As for time out i will be following advice but i was / am interested to hear how others have got on with recovery times etc .
As for skiing, it may be the case that lifts aren't turning but i believe there is no restriction on ski touring at present so with luck a nice gentle week early Feb may be on the cards.
I'll let you all know how i get on ,

You know it makes sense.

@scarbski, I was general anaesthetic for both........

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Well folks inspite of all the new lockdowns i had the opp yesterday as planned and although a bit sore i'm moving around the house ok and currently not on any pain relief .
I was in hospital for about 3 hours total , given a sandwich and a cup of tea and then good to go !
I'm having a very easy day today but hope to be out for a gentle walk tomorrow as per advice.
As for skiing i'll have to see how it goes but it doesn't look like i'm missing anything at the moment .

Have a good Christmas everyone

A snowHead

scarbski - sounds excellent. I too was in and out. HOWEVER...I woke up with the most stunning pain. In my shoulder. I mean really really painful (and I have broken my back and had my face bashed in cycling so pain is something I am somewhat used to). The three holes where the surgeon went in were tiny, and the mesh repair was great, and remains good. But the shoulder was SO painful on waking. I asked the nurse and in response to my '...and just what did you do to my shoulder?...' said '...ah...that sometimes happens. We have to inflate your body cavity with inert gas and sometimes it finds its way into your shoulder joints and it will be painful for a few days...'. It was. Fortunately I was in for late October, so I had eight weeks for recovery prior to skiing. And after 6 weeks I think it would have been fine, in line with the guidance, and eight weeks it was definitely absolutely fine.

A snowHead

Wow ,you wouldn’t expect that . I only had a local anaesthetic so no shoulder pain but open surgery so a bigger scar to show for it .

Help!!

Skiing after a hernia opp, how long to wait .

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