Getting back in the saddle after surgery

secretsam

ALERT! Some icky stuff detailed below.

Right. I won't go into details (yuk) but had surgery a couple of weeks ago and now have remains of the surgical incision, not in direct saddle area but roughly the same postcode, around shorts area, and that's it for details! incision about 8cm and now healing, will be another few days at least to be fully tidy. Hopefully by then the pain will have stopped. Wound got slightly infected but on the mend now thanks to the antibiotics of doom.

Anyhoo, because of this, the pre-existing condition which led to the op, and a dose of (real) 'flu, I've been off the bike since before Christmas. So how long might it be before my lardy 175cm / 90kg frame will be back up to doing 50-60 miles+ (which I could comfortably do pre-sickies)?

Thanks in advance and apologies for gross-ness :P

Bobbinogs

I think the most accurate answer is "it depends..."

secretsam

Bobbinogs wrote:

I think the most accurate answer is "it depends..."

Curses, thought that might be the oh-so-precise answer

That's the trouble - leading up to the op, I was in the care of a surgeon, for whom everything is black or white, broken or fixed, good or bad. No grey.

Now I'm in the rehab world, it's medics and AHPs and "well..." and it's all shades of grey.

Anyone else got any experience of surgery and got any tips?

Bobbinogs

A lot will depend on exactly where the stitches are. If they are in a place that rubs when cycling or stretches when cycling then you are just going to have to be very patient until the wound itself has healed sufficiently. That doesn't mean sitting around doing nothing but it may mean finding an alternative exercise until you can cycle. When I bust my collarbone badly I needed a couple of ops and quite a few stitches but I was ok to turbo, right from day one, so I kept a lot of fitness...but that was because I could strap my arm up safely and carry on, albeit in a lot of pain but that was unrelated to what I was doing.

I am due for an op on my foot shortly and I won't have a lot of options except taking it easy for a week or so until I can gently spin on the turbo and work my way up from there. I reckon I could be off cycling properly for anything up to 6 weeks and will then have to start regaining fitness. Turbos are great for any post injury recovery as it means you can stop immediately any pain becomes sharp and, if you don't go mad doing intervals, the cycling itself is very controlled. So, if you haven't one already then maybe now is a good time to invest?

Be very careful about things like swimming. Everyone thinks it is great after injury but not if you have a wound as the long soak in water greatly increases the chances of infection and the wound itself opening up, particularly in the immediate aftermath of having the stitches removed.

haydenm

A friend of mine had one of his testicles removed and was back on the bike/doing sport 2 weeks later which I find very impressive.

charlieridesbike

I would always listen what the doctor/physio says and take it slowly. your body will tell you when you are pushing it to far

secretsam

charlieridesbike wrote:

I would always listen what the doctor/physio says and take it slowly. your body will tell you when you are pushing it to far

Absolutely, went out for a couple of walks at the weekend and had to slow the others down as I'm just not used to it - knackered and aching next day!

keef66

If you've had the same strain of flu I'm now recovering from, I suspect that's going to delay your return to the saddle more than the op. I'm still at the stage of coughing myself inside out if I attempt the stairs all in one go. There's no imminent danger of me trying to cycle anywhere at the moment, and these northerly winds are making it even less appealing.

I'd wait until you're properly recovered from both, and hopefully it will have warmed up a bit too.