Hi,
I’m doing yoga asanas for last 10years. last month 9th i had a inguinal laparascopic surgery and now i’m comfortable. i need to know can i do yoga asanas? if yes, anyone could you please guide which asanas are helpful avoid recurrence of hernia and as well strenthn the abdominal wall.
Thanks in advance for your valuable suggestions.
You should ask your doctor about resuming exercise after surgery.
Common sense tells me that you should avoid increasing abdominal pressure for some time. Therefore, you really need to avoid poses like cobra (bhujangasana), locust (shalabhasana) and bow (danurasana). Be careful with forward bending, too.
[I]Yoga for Common Ailments[/I] by Robin Monro et. al. (Gaia, London 1990) has a section on abdominal hernia, that I have reproduced for you.
Please consult your surgeon for such information.
When you are cleared for all physical activity we can discuss this further.
gordon
The reason why hernias appear is because there is a little space in the abdomen wall that is not covered with any muscle, so “strengthening” the abdominal muscles won’t do any difference. If you had Schwarzenegger’s Abs in his Mr Olympia’s days, you would have the same amount of hernia recurrences.
It is important to know exactly what type of surgery you had done and how (Was your surgery done closing with a polypropilene net? How big was the hernial bag? Diameter of the wall defect? etc ). Those questions I think might only be answered by your surgeon; with that type of info then it would be easier to help. Other questions would be how athletic you are? How old are you?
Without knowing your case personally, I would say you won’t have much problem returning to Yoga after five or six weeks doing exercise which doesn’t promote a substantial increase in intraabdominal pressure, but I agree with everyone here, ask your surgeon about how much time before you can iniciate physical activity…
This thread is nice and timely for me because in the next few months I’ll probably have some inguinal hernia surgery. The article that Willem posted was good to read and appreciated.
Since so many yoga moves involve abdominal pressure I am guessing that I won’t do much yoga asanas for the first two months following surgery. I’ll probably do some Tai Chi because it has many of the same benefits as yoga with similar breathing and relaxing with less twisting, less bending and less stretching, although I’ll ask the surgeon’s opinion about the dynamics of the belly on the hernia area first.
Best Wishes, Gil
Hello! This thread is old but I wish to revive it! I’ve been practicing yoga for a while and have recently found a class I love to attend and my practice and really strengthened and deepened for me. I don’t know how to describe what level I’m at. Not advanced but not a beginner either.
I’ve achieved a noticeable increase in flexibility while in poses (for example, I can sink deeper into pigeon now than ever before) and some postures are finally making sense to my body.
In about a month I am going to have an umbilical hernia repaired. I’ve spoken to my surgeon about my exercise routine and he says no strenuous exercise until after 6 weeks. My practice has been very vigorous. I’m wondering how much of my flexibility and strength will be gone after six weeks. Is there anything I can do that will be gentler to my body but will help me maintain or at least slow the process?
I was hoping to tell my instructor of my needs and continue to ATTEND class, if only to lay in child’s pose and imagine myself going through the postures with the rest of the class. 
Good thing this thread was bumped as I have a question too.
My fiance’s doctor suspects he might be developing a hernia. Finace was running (he’s an avid runner) last week and after he came off the treadmill he felt a pain in his abdomen and felt like he had been kicked in the testicle. He went straight to the doctor who said it might be a herina. The only precautions he gave him were to stop running and stop heavy lifting for 2 weeks and then go back for a re-check. The doctor knows that he practices yoga weekly but did not specifically advise him to stop. I’m worried that if my finace keeps on with his yoga practice, without knowing what to avoid he could very well advance his condition into a hernia (even if he stops the running and weight training for a while).
Can anybody lend some tips about whether or not he should put his asana practice for a few months? Or can he attend but omit certain asanas?
He will definately ask the doctor’s opinion when he goes back on Monday. But I don’t think the doctor has enough of an understanding of yoga to know what type of asanas we practice. Finace is at an intermediate level. For example, the doctor won’t know enough about yoga to advise: omit bow and cobra, but Warrior 2 is okay (just examples).
Advice?
How ironic that the hernia thread is re-emerging.
@efflorescing
Every body is different so the response your body will have to 6 weeks away from the vigors of your current practice cannot be determined. It’s actually part of the practice, a new experience, a new chance to grow, an opportunity to look from several sides of the forest, a chance to delve more deeply into who you are through the process of svadhyaya.
What is usually helpful to students when going through a surgical procedure is calm living/eating and the honed ability to feel. Unfortunately, rigorous practice also often equates to rapid practice and feeling has an inverse relationship with pace. Feeling allows the student to move the mind into the muscle tissue, palpate boundaries of safety in movement and action with the awareness, and know internally when to do and when to not. If the student has somehow been fortunate enough to gain such discernment in spite of a rapid practice then this is the most helpful of tools to wield, from a yogic perspective, of course.
@amz155
I make no bones about this. When under the care of a medical doctor the student first must get clearance from that health care provider. I never go against such advice as it is of the student’s choosing. In fact if the provider says 6 weeks I’ll wait 12.
That having been said…
That which places strain on the abdominal cavity should be avoided as this can exacerbate the condition. If the student has a robust practice AND that practice is conveyed by a skilled, therapeutically trained teacher, then the “practice” could continue but it would be modified or customized for the fiancee in question.
And, of course, there are some things, again in a robust practice, that might actually help rather than just “not harm”.
[QUOTE=InnerAthlete;40996]How ironic that the hernia thread is re-emerging.
@amz155
I make no bones about this. When under the care of a medical doctor the student first must get clearance from that health care provider. I never go against such advice as it is of the student’s choosing. In fact if the provider says 6 weeks I’ll wait 12.
That having been said…
That which places strain on the abdominal cavity should be avoided as this can exacerbate the condition. If the student has a robust practice AND that practice is conveyed by a skilled, therapeutically trained teacher, then the “practice” could continue but it would be modified or customized for the fiancee in question.
And, of course, there are some things, again in a robust practice, that might actually help rather than just “not harm”.[/QUOTE]
Okay, thanks. We will see what the doctor says when my fiance goes to see him on Monday. I guess my ibggest fear is that the doctor clears James for activity but his body is not ready for it yet. It has only been almost 2 weeks since he started feeling the pain. He stopped running and weight training immediately and practiced yoga just once this past Sunday. He still complains of some pain so I think the issue is still there. I will make sure he asks his doctor about yoga and if the doctor says he can practice with caution we will definately let the teacher know.
Hi, this thread is really useful, but my case is really different, I had a open mesh repair on my right side two months back, now I feel quiet ok and no signs of pain, or any complications, but I have started getting a little pain on the other side that is left groin, I think it might be just a start or can be a starting point in hernia formation though I don’t have any bulge or anything but just pain like i had on other side in the beginning.
But this time I really want to take every care I can to avoid hernia on this side, I eat lots of fruits, juices, fresh vegetables, fennel tea etc to avoid constipation and smooth passing of stools, also avoid getting cough and lifting anything heavy.
I want to know what are yogic asanas I can do considering being operated on one side which is now all good and having symptoms on other side.
Thanking you in advance for your valuable sugesstions.
Love Nat