Sports and hernia etc

[Perfer]

sports and hernia etc

Hello, im a 29 year old man who was diagnosed with crohns at age 19, got a ilestomy at 21 and then a permanent colostomy at 27..

ive always liked going to the gym, I have never even thought about a hernia, no doctors or nurses told me about it..

I do deadlifts and squats without a belt and I ride downhill mountainbiking and bmx etc more "extreme" sports, and I do crash occasionally, like today I crashed pretty bad on a bmx jump, got the handlebars in my stomach, knocked the wind out of me and busted my elbow..

my friends were worried I might have hurt my stomach since they know about my stoma etc, luckily handlebars missed it.. but I started thinking maybe I need one of those stoma guards?

do any of you lift weights? do you wear a hernia belt? I have had an open surgery 2 years ago, but dont feel like my stomach muscles have been impacted? I can do incline situps just fine

should I just keep doing what I do or maybe better to wise up before something happens?

thanks for any replies

 

[Nyx]

Remarkably, stomas can take quite a bit of trauma. I have a colostomy as well, and about 6 months ago my 5 yr old kicked me square on Oscar's head. It hurt like a bugger, bled like crazy for an hour or so, but was just fine. I had some bruising around the stoma site, but besides that it was ok. Now, I don't recommend injuring your stoma....lol And maybe I just got lucky and she didn't do any more serious damage, but I'm figuring if I can take a direct hit by an angry child, I don't need to be overly cautious with Oscar.

I'd likely avoid contact sports, but I don't see why you'd need to worry about weightlifting or mountain biking. If you're really concerned about it, they do make ostomy armour as well as hernia belts etc. I'd think that if you haven't had problems, you're likely not going to.

Hope this has been helpful!

 

[Gav]

I use a hernia waistband when I play football, tennis and squash. It's really useful and once it's on tightly no-one even knows I am wearing it underneath. I recommend it 100%, just like Misty says prevention is better than cure.