abdominal hernia surgery and exercise

dshale

I have had two surgeries to repair three different hernias. All are in the same general area. I'm trying to get rid of the extra weight and want to add more exercises. The problem is that I don't want to end up in the hospital getting another hernia repaired. Does anyone have suggestion on slowly strengthening abs.

d4nger_girl

Hi there - are you wanting to lose weight off your stomach area? if so doing loads of ab exercises wont work, the best thing for that is to reduce your calories and do more aerobic exercise such as walking/running/biking. If you are wanting to strengthen that area, you are probably wanting to concentrate on your transverse abdominal area, you can do things such as heel slides - http://www.ehow.com/video_4940410_pilates-exercises-heel-slides.html - check that out, looks easy, but its not. Also you can try the plank exercise - http://www.ehow.com/video_2365380_plank-core-muscle-toning-strength.html, which is a good core (tummy & back) strength exercise, she says to hold it for 1 min, but it might be a good idea to start with 20-30 secs till you get stronger.

Best to avoid any type of sit-up movement at the moment.

Hope that helps

knelson422

I have had 5 c sections and it is really hard to be patient and wait until my body heals. But, because of the concern about scar tissue (which can affect your intestines, and build up tissue that does not ever go away) it is really important to let your body heal. When I had my surgeries the doctor gave me a belly binder that I could wear when I went walking to give my abdomen more support. That seemed to help when I was ready to start walking. Walking was the first exercise I did until the doctor told me I could do other stuff. Good luck!!!

dshale

My main focus is strengthening that area, but I don't want to compromise my health further. I had a rough recovery that required a wound vac for several months. I am extremely overweight so some exercises put a lot of pressure in that area. I'm controlling my diet and want to add strength training alongside the light jogging that I am up to now.

d4nger_girl

Sounds like your doing well then - probably just avoid the sit-ups or any type of crunching movement. The exercises I mentioned above will be fine. Perhaps with the 'Plank' exercise, you could do it on your knees instead of toes. Or another one is the bird dog - http://weighttraining.about.com/od/exercisegallery/a/birddog.htm for instructions and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkQKt8fyGnE&feature=related - he explains it really well. It's important that you know how to 'activate' your abs before doing these exercises.

Doing body resistance exercises will benefit you.