Recovery time from hernia surgery - laporoscopic inguinal

Good luck - I had one repaired in August of 2018 and took a week off, but pretty quickly thereafter jumped back into normal speed/distance.

4-5 days? Good luck. I took well over a year to completely back to normal.

I had laporoscipic inguinal hernia on both sides. My first run was 18 days after the surgery. My first race took place 5 weeks after I started running again. I ran much slower than I did before the surgery. My running was back to normal after a couple of months. However, the last thing I wanted to do was sneezing. It hurt so much. If I sneezed during a run, I would probably pass out. I ran a half-marathon PR four months after the surgery. The pain while sneezing eventually disappeared but I forgot it took how long. Good luck!

Dr. DETROIT wrote:

4-5 days? Good luck. I took well over a year to completely back to normal.

Really? Well over a year? Was that laporoscopic?

Yeah man. I could jog slowly about 4 weeks later and star lifting light weights, but every now and then the pain would come back in my balls and my abs and I'd have to sit out a few weeks again. Take your time getting back. There is no rush

Hello All,

I am a regular runner and do like 4-5 miles a day even in the winter. After a lot of hesitation i did my inguinal hernia yesterday. It took 15 years to make the decision. i had a lump but it didnt bother me. I also avoided the narcotics but 2 days today my balls feel they are on fire. I can walk inside the house taking small steps thats all. hoping and praying I can at least start walking outside as the weather here in the east coast is getting better. how long did you all feel this pain?

Praying I can atleast go back to slow paced jogging.

Dr. DETROIT wrote:

Take your time getting back. There is no rush

THIS.

My second hernia procedure was laporoscopic. I'd read about a basketball player who was playing in NBA games a week after that kind of surgery, so--since I felt okay--I started doing rapid and relatively high-mileage walking (I can't run) just a few days after the repair.

Well, the repair didn't "take" completely and, ten years later, I still tweak the hernia maybe a couple times a year, losing anywhere from a week to multiple months of activity. (It's repaired "enough" that doctors are unwilling to go in and finish the job.) Right now I'm a month into recovering from another tweak: no fast walking, no lifting weights, no screwing.

TL, DR: Give it a real chance to heal. Take *more* time off than you think you need, and when you do start back take it easy: low speed, low mileage--and you should probably mix in some walking breaks.

Thanks for the quick reply. Not looking at active running any more. just the usual 3-5 miles a day. never been to a doctor in ages so no surgeries until this now. I thought i will be in in few days but entire scortal area is immovable..

This is a two-year old thread so I'm replying to Karven123.

I suggest you take the pain meds, but maybe not the full dose. You don't want the pain to go completely away because you don't want to overdo it.

I've had 4 inguinal hernia surgeries. In the first two, I tried to come back too fast and partially tore the repair. Trust me on this... you do not want to have a partially torn mesh repaired. It's more painful and much longer to recover than just a hernia surgery.

I've been more conservative on the next two repairs. I took a full 5 weeks off running after the most recent surgery (robotic laparoscopic) and I'm running with no problems four months post-surgery.

My buddy had a laparoscopic procedure. He researched the US and Canada and found a doc who did nothing but inguinal hernias and had a fantastic track record. He was told he could return to running in four days. He tried to return in 4 days and in a few days, he retore the tissue. The problem was that his doctor, while an expert on hernia repair, had no concept of elite-level running. The doctor assumed that by running, my friend meant a few miles at a jogging pace, which is what 95% of "runners" do. My buddy assumed he could return to 400m repeats!

tl;dr

Be conservative. If your doc says 4 days, take 4 weeks. If your doc says 5 weeks, take 6. You have the rest of your life to run.

sure. I will take this slow. as such I cant take this pain so cant think of another one to fix for the hastiness.

Thank you All. Much appreciated.

Wow 4 surgeries. Did u over do it? I dont know what the future is instore . hopefully i dont screw anything and go back as having young kids and being immovable is not a good thing.