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Yoga & Umbilical repair danger
Hello,
I had an 3cm umbilical repair with preperitoneal 8×8 cm soft mesh 10 weeks ago. The mesh was not sewn into place. The defect/fascia above the mesh was closed traversley w prolene suture and a midline offloading suture was added.
At 6 weeks I was cleared for everything. No restrictions.
PT was going fine, at 10 weeks I started up a yoga class.
We did an up-dog stretch w belly breathing to stretch our abs. Felt ok. Couple days later repeated. This time I developed burning/tenderness in the belly button area. That died down but now when I contract my abs it feels like lots of needles stabbing me along a horizontal line under my bellybutton. Is my fascia that was sutured over my mesh tearing apart? Would imaging be helpful?
But bigger picture, does abdominal stretching need to be off the table for people w ventral hernia repairs? Should docs warn their patients about yoga?
Thanks,
John-
This discussion was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by
John.
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This discussion was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by
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5 Replies
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Early (6 weeks or so) from a ventral or umbilical hernia repair, torso extension is not preferred. Depends on the situation, of course. The burning may be due to tugging on the sutures or mesh. It is usually not a hernia recurrence.
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You could try emailing and asking these people who offer yoga and exercise for hernia. They do say avoid certain exercises
https://www.brightonsportstherapy.co.uk/injury/inguinal-hernia-treatment
It’s quite an interesting read in any case.
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Here is a good video describing future goals for mesh products. It shows the weaknesses in current products.
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8 x 8 cm is about 3 x 3 inches. It might be that what you’re feeling is the edge of the bottom of the mesh, as far as the stabbing needles effect. Maybe not stabbing but the edges pulling away or being stressed. The mesh ends up stiffer than the surrounding tissue as the fibers become encapsulated by tissue, so the edges of the mesh become what would be called stress riser areas, in engineering terms. The soft tissue around it stretches but the mesh/tissue composite does not.
Anyway, ten weeks is not really strong enough for the tissue around the mesh to reach full strength. Study up on tissue healing and you might get some ideas about how to work your way back to your old routines. Surgeons are not really experts on things like the biology of tissue healing. They put the mesh in as it’s recommended then it’s up to the patient and others to handle the rest.
Here is a pretty good article about tissue healing. Its focus is more toward the surface, the skin, but the principles of collagen formation are the same I think.
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Thanks for considering it. I thought about the mesh too, but you’d think if it was edge effects I’d have at least 2 lines of pain (top/bottom) if not 4 (top/bot/left/right). Curling up, compressing the tissues doesn’t trigger it.
I know the preperitoneal mesh kinda glues itself between the peritoneum on bottom and fascia on top. When you stretch I’m not sure how much the peritoneum & fascia expands along the mesh surface. If this was the source you’d think it might be kinda like… pain over a square region.
I do know when you stretch abs and belly breath at once you’re generating a Normal force & 2 parallel opposite forces on that fascia sown above the mesh. If this tissue rips from suture it can manifest as needle like pain (can think of it as the suture cutting through tissue.) This would explain the single line of pain.
But in Yoga classes you do a lot of core stretching. Dunno if it’s the right call after hernia repairs.
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