Hello all,

I had LIS and skin tag removal surgery two weeks ago today. I saw my doctor Wednesday April 30th, and he said I looked mostly healed and I don't have to come back unless a problem appears. Unfortunately, I'm an idiot and forgot to ask him when I can resume exercising. I've tried calling, but I can only reach the nurse, who keeps giving a standard answer of 4-8 weeks. This seems a bit extreme to me; I feel perfectly normal now and have just slight discomfort at the incision site if I wipe too hard. Other than that, zero pain.

How long did everyone wait to resume normal exercise? I'm already back to walking a few miles a day, but I really miss yoga and running, and I'm getting quite anxious to be active again. If it helps, I'm a fairly healthy 20 woman with no known health issues complicating healing.

Thanks for any input!

I had this done on Monday and have been doing light exercise since the day after. My doctors never told me not too. Just to take meds as needed, keep area very clean and rest when I need to. I have stayed away from anything where it puts pressure on my bum but with two littles still in diapers I can say sitting on the floor in a cross legged position or something similar hurts. I think if you avoid those you should be ok. Anything that feels bad I would stop but otherwise try it out.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who seems to be healing quickly! I wish my doctor had provided a bit more guidance about the exercise thing, it was quite vague and 4 weeks seems quite long. I'm going to try easing back into yoga and running. I miss lifting but that can wait a while haha. Thanks for the input.

Lana, your story is very inspiring! I am an early thirties female, possibly looking into surgery. I suppose I have some concerns about the incontinence issues if I have another child. Did you discuss this risk with your doctor at all? I love hearing about young women getting the surgery, it is inspiring for me!

My CRS said to wait six weeks. He said I could maybe walk around the block for exercise earlier than that. Even the elliptical he told me to wait at least four weeks and even then go slow.

Jbl, I didn't bring it up with the doctor, because as of right now I'm not planning on children, but he mentioned that there was a slightly increased risk, but it was still unlikely. He did mention that my risk was quite low partially due to my age and apparent healing abilities though, so I can't say if it would be the same for you. He also mentioned that a c-section would decrease the risk of incontinence, and based on my family's history of everyone ending up with emergency c-sections during childbirth I might have needed on anyway.

And if you're thinking about the surgery, don't stay away from it just out of fear! Find a good doctor that you feel you can trust, and explicitly mention that you would prefer him to err on the conservative side with the cut. That's what we did; I would rather have him cut too little and need another surgery than cut too much. But I can say that I wish I had done this sooner! I avoided it because I was afraid, but life is so much better now. I have my life back, I'm no longer in constant pain and I can actually participate and be happy! Good luck!

And oh wow, Vbd, six weeks is a very long time! I went to yoga yesterday, but I took it very easy and focused more on upper body movement. I should probably slow down, I just get so frustrated. Before the surgery I had trouble participating in anything because of the pain, and now that I feel well I'm so eager to start everything back up again. It's hard for me to take it easy for so long. Thanks for the info though, I will monitor myself very carefully.

I totally get the frustration. I'm a runner myself, and it seems like I've been on hiatus for six months now between all my procedures.

As for the child-bearing, I did discuss this with the CRS, as it was a major concern for me not having had children, but wanting them some day. He said he wouldn't be too concerned about it. He seemed to think it is a bigger concern in say, third world countries, where you would be in labor and pushing longer. He said labor in the US is usually pretty quick, and if not, they usually try to speed it up through drugs. However, if you're looking to have an all natural birth, I would probably just double check with your surgeon. The bottom line for me was that I wasn't going to want to give birth regardless with a fissure, so the fissure had to be taken care of. I'll probably still try to request a C section after all of this, though.

It's my 5th week since surgery and I was jogging and sprinting yesterday. Everything was fine afterwards. I feel good. Maybe do a light jog and increase the intensity and see how you go.