Inguinal Hernia - No Surgery Necessary? page

[dgreenwood]

I had my annual physical this week and the doc found what he called a "small left inguinal hernia". I was not aware of it before the physical. He told me that they used to repair all hernias but now they didn't fix small ones that weren't causing problems. He knows I lift weights and told me to just make sure I breath out and don't hold my breath or grunt.

This is having a psychological effect on me now. I worked out yesterday and did ok except when it was time to squat. I started with my normal weight but was having trouble. I didn't feel any pain but I was thinking too much, didn't go as deep as I normally do, etc; it was in my head and I wasn't doing good squats. I ended up dropping about 40 lbs off and squatting an amount that felt pretty easy.

Any thoughts on what I should do? Is this something I just need to give some time and get over it mentally or should I get a second opinion about whether I should be doing squats with a "small hernia".

Is anyone else successfully lifting heavy with a diagnosed hernia?

[jakey]

hi, i have an inguinal hernia at the moment, and i'm going to have the surgery in october. there's no rush with these things, particularly if they're small and the doc's given the OK to wait.

the psychological component is real though, it can fuck with your head. believe me... don't worry. it's fine! you'll get used to it. i squat with mine, and though i'm not powerlifting or anything, it's fine.

they don't go away though, and you will eventually want to get it fixed, cause they only get bigger. but it's not something you need to rush to do, if you're okay with it.

[jakey]

hey, random update if you're interested. i actually had my hernia surgery on 11/2/2012. had an open procedure with a mesh repair. the week following surgery, well, sucks. but 10 days out i did my first workout, albeit a light one. three full-body circuits. i never stopped training hard until the week before the surgery, and never had problems. now, i just gotta get back to where i was. how's yours doing?

[dgreenwood]

I see my doctor early in December so I'm going to have him check it again and discuss the best course of action. I think it's slightly more visible than it was before but that may be because I've leaned out a bit so there's less fat there to conceal it.

I barely notice it when working out; I'm squatting at least to parallel with 225-240 lbs and don't notice it at all, when I dead lift I feel it a bit as I get set for my first rep and tighten everything up but don't feel any problem through multiple reps (250-285 lbs).

If I was sure it would never get worse I'd have no problem living with it the way it is, I'm just afraid that one day it's going to pop out and I'll end up in the ER. The weird thing is that it feels better the stronger I get. They say you can't strengthen the wall to make the hernia go away but maybe getting stronger in general is putting less stress on that particular area.

[dgreenwood]

oh, and I'm glad yours went well! I'm hoping for a quick recovery like you. I'm not afraid of the surgery, I'm afraid of losing the strength I've gained during a long recovery and/or ruining the good habits I've developed in the last 6-8 months.

[Wanderlust]

If you don't have any problems, keep lifting. And keep using the valsalva, an inguinal hernia is a lot better than a herniated disc.

[EyeOfRound]

Don't get the surgery, your doctor is right, you don't need it. There are a lot of potential complications associated with it. Generally, we don't operate on hernias unless there's a risk of them being strangulated. You'll have quite severe pain (likely dull and achy) if your hernia got strangulated, so you'd know.