My PT says I need to stretch A LOT more and of course I'm concerned about my AF. Does anyone participate in Yoga or do a fair amount of leg and hip involved stretching and find that it has no impact to their fissure?
Thanks!

I wish I did. I do however think that once I start working out again I will steer clear of my old exercise routine of spin class and go back to doing yoga (possibly bikram, ??) and also try pilates since I think the two are most likely the best exercise for ppl with AF. Hope that helps.

I want to get a Pilates Reformer with rebounder for home use when I get better. I like the idea of lying down when I exercise too!

I must be an alomaly. I ride my bike to work (with AF in tow). since I am healed on the outside, the ride doesn't bother me.
I also find that sciatica stretched help relieve AF spasm. that involves crossing your legs and pulling you kneee up. other stretches don't seem to bother me either. I have always been super flexible though.
I'd just suggest going slow and not doing anything that causes AF twinges.

Thanks for the input everyone. I'm mostly concerned with reopening the fissure with an aggressive stretch, which my PT wants to start. I'm not sure that's possible, but you never know.

i would take it easy personally....I mean whats more important now is to avoid re tearing at all costs.!

my surgeon assured me a long time ago that nothing i do, aside from pushing out a hard bm, will tear the fissure. since it's technically inside the body, stretching/working out shouldn't have an affect. however, at the worst parts of my fissure (for almost a year) i completely working out altogether. so i don't blame you for being cautious.

I did find that if I did, like a leg lift with one leg, or when I lay on my side in bed and pulled a knee towards my chest, that it hurt!
Now, pain is telling you something.
But everyone's fissure is a bit different and located at different areas around the anus.
The nice thing about yoga is you can ease into it (in fact most people HAVE to ease into it) and I think of all "exercise" yoga would be least likely to injure the fissure.
Many Yoga poses wouldn't cause the anus to be stretched, anyway.
I can speak here, I think, because I did yoga for two years straight and I can't see it being a terribly bad thing for a fissure. I doubt seriously it would rip it. But that is a guess...

Thanks again everyone!
Kim, I love this:
There are three types of pain. Moderate, Severe, and Butt!

Chris,
I practice asthanga yoga and it really seems to help down there....
relaxes the pelvic muscles and calms the nerves. my crs said that alot of people with fissures carry their stress down there and tend to be tenser. Yoga helps
Erik