Prior to developing my AFs (yep, two of 'em :) ) I was fairly active. I would strength/resistance train at the gym, did pretty rigorous cardio and took my dog on a 30 minute walk everyday.
Once I realized this wasn't helping things down below, I stopped and have limited myself to only walking the dog for 20-30 minutes for several months as I've tried to heal.
Questions for the group:
1. Has anyone had success transitioning back to more rigorous exercise during or after the healing process? If so, what did you do?
2. Beyond walks, is there any physical activity that is fissure-safe? Yoga? I've taken dance before and it seems like ballet would be a good resistance technique that also wouldn't require a lot of straining but I could be wrong. Anything else?
Other thoughts on getting physical with a fissure?

Hi Colby, wish I knew the answer to that for sure...but I will say I was very active before my fissure and surgery. I know before I had surgery, the more mileage I put in, the worse I felt. Same with lunges, squats etc. I have not worked out in about 6 months and I am down to about 102 lbs...I used to be toned and fit. I would take it slow and just follow what your body tells you. I feel for you because the only exercise I get now is walking my dog as well. Wish I had more advice...good luck!

Yes take it slowly. I was virtually immobile for two and a half years with a chronic fissure, laying down for hours each day after a bowel movement. Before the fissure I was very fit and active. When it was cured by a LIS op, I thought I could just gradually work back to my former level of fitness. The first thing that happened was I tore a muscle in my back because my muscles were weak. That took a few weeks to recover. During the time I had the fissure, I was also not bending, as it hurt too much. So I lost the ability to squat and bend fully. In trying to regain this, I hurt my knees several times. As the leg and lower back muscles were no longer as strong or elastic as they had been, the muscles weren't taking the impact of movement as they should have been and it instead impacted on the joints, causing minor injury. Just now I've got bursitis in one hip because my muscles in the area were weak and the hip joint took the impact of movement (according to an orthopaedic surgeon). I've been working with a physiotherapist for just over a year, on and off, to try and regain my former fitness and flexibility. When I asked him if it would come back, he said he thought that "most of it" would return, but would take another year. I keep having setbacks of minor injuries where I have to stop exercising, thus losing the condition and strength that I've worked so hard to regain. Oh, and I developed a frozen shoulder as well, no doubt from the stresses on my body of trying to regain condition.
As to what sort of exercise you can do with a fissure, I practised the Alexander Technique, something I'd learnt years earlier. I don't know if without this I'd have been even worse. It was difficult to do some of the stretches however, because of the fissure.
Best of luck!

Message deleted

I personally avoid running as this has triggered off my AF condition twice in the past. Not sure if the running caused it, or just because I hadn't gotten much excersise in a while before suddenly going for a run.
These days I just do walking, albeit fast and often up hills. One day if I ever feel properly healed again I may try a run but fear what the result will be. Last time I was in agony before I even got home after the run which was amazing as I only did a very short run ( < quarter of a mile anyway).
Yoga should be great and relaxing also.

I am VERY interested in this topic. I was diagnosed with AF months after symptoms started and it really never made sense to me. When symptoms started in January, I was on high fiber diet (weight loss diet and had lost 40 lbs). My Dad had heart attack and I was under a lot of stress, but never constipated or even associated pain with BM (some BM discomfort weeks later but pain eventually was constant). But I was also doing a LOT of intense cleaning (lifting/squatting in my Dad's house in Jan to clean it up).
Fast forward to that I am now 3.5 weeks from fissurectomy and LIS and I want to start cleaning my house. I am tired of laying around due to AF. A week ago, the CRS said AF was gone but LIS cut needed a little more healing. He took me off all post surgery restrictions and just said not to eat spicy food.
I did some house cleaning (which includes bending and squatting) the last few days about an hour each day. And I am starting to have the butt pain and now blood with BM this am while my stools are soft.
Can anyone shed light on what this connection between exercise/bending/squatting/lifting and butt pain? Does the butt pain then lead to AF? Any suggestions on how to transition back to cleaning house? Thanks.

Katrina915 wrote:I was diagnosed with AF months after symptoms started and it really never made sense to me. When symptoms started in January, I was on high fiber diet (weight loss diet and had lost 40 lbs)...

It's like a hit/miss. I was running 50 miles/week & my diet was close to perfect.

Before my fissue I used to pump iron and did vigorous cardio. During my fissure I did nothing at all. After my fissure healed I started walking and doing pullups, pushups, and crunches, and added deep knee bends. That's still all I'm doing months later, and I feel better than I have in years and my body looks better than ever.

Take heart. I had my first fissure when I was 60 - seven years ago. It healed with diltiazem cream and I got back to my beloved cycling within months. Until I got another a few weeks ago, I was regularly doing two or three 30-50 mile rides a week. Also walking and occasional dancing. Haven't stopped the walking and dancing this time. I think hard BMs are the real enemy - not exercise or even the bicycle saddle. Miss my cycling dreadfully but hope to resume once healed again.