Patients who have undergone an appendectomy are often concerned with the question: when can you play sports after appendicitis? Many patients, before being seen by a surgeon, regularly went to the gym or practiced active sports in the fresh air.
After surgery, the body needs rest and recovery, but this does not mean that you should forget about physical activity. Dosed exercise, selected according to the patient’s condition, will bring undoubted benefits to the body and help avoid postoperative complications.
So, how exactly should people who have had their appendix removed play sports, and what do experts think about this?
Postoperative period and its importance
Acute appendicitis (ICD-10 code, K-35) is a common disease. In some people, it does not become inflamed throughout their lives. Inflammation of the appendix is treated with medication or surgery. After surgery to remove appendicitis, a long recovery is required, neglect of which is fraught with dangerous consequences.
During a hospital stay, care for a patient with appendicitis is provided by medical professionals. Home restoration requires a lot of effort as it is done on your own. If you follow the recommendations of a specialist, your body will return to normal faster and the wounds will heal. Failure to follow the rules after removal of the appendix can lead to separation of the external and internal sutures and complications. This is a reason to immediately go to the hospital. It is important to try not to move, so it is better to call an ambulance.
Rehabilitation rules
In the postoperative period, it is important to monitor the suture and inspect it for the presence of various neoplasms. If there are any, then this should alert the patient and force him to visit a medical facility as soon as possible. Often, seals on or around the sutures indicate the accumulation of pus and blood under the skin, which is dangerous for the development of serious complications. Even a small lump is a reason to stop training until the circumstances of its appearance are clarified. During the rehabilitation period, you need to be especially careful about your health and unconditionally follow the recommendations of your doctor.
How long does it take to recover from appendectomy?
As a rule, recovery from appendicitis lasts at least 0.5 months.
The recovery period depends on how successfully the operation was performed, what method was used, how the body responded to the intervention, and the severity of the situation. After removal of purulent or gangrenous appendicitis, especially one that has turned into peritonitis, the rehabilitation period is longer, since there is a need to combat the infection that has developed, which includes long-term use of antibacterial drugs.
Today, appendectomy is performed by laparoscopy or abdominal surgery. Laparoscopic intervention is possible if the organ is inflamed, but tissue rupture has not yet occurred. This easy surgical treatment option provides for recovery after removal of appendicitis within 2 weeks, less often 4. Abdominal surgery is more traumatic, so it may take six months for complete recovery. Only a doctor can say more precisely how much is needed for full recovery. Recovery for young children and adults with excessive body weight is more difficult and longer.
First postoperative days
Rehabilitation after appendicitis begins with the end of surgery. The period until the day the patient is discharged is called postoperative. The first days of care for a patient after an appendectomy are provided by medical staff. After leaving anesthesia, the patient must strictly adhere to medical prescriptions. Anesthesia can affect a person in different ways, so vomiting, chills and other symptoms may occur.
Medical care
The first day, eating is prohibited. Drinking water during the first hours is not recommended. Since the right side hurts, you first need to lie only on your left side. After a day, the patient is allowed to get up, but if the operation was performed laparoscopically, they are helped to get up after 5-6 hours, and it is recommended to immediately walk a little. The incision is treated daily with antiseptic agents. In addition, it is necessary to take antibacterial drugs and other medications prescribed by the doctor. If the patient is concerned about constipation, he is given an enema.
During the first few days, the patient has an elevated body temperature. This is fine. But if the temperature lasts longer than 7 days, you should consult a doctor. It is necessary to monitor how long the right side of the abdomen and the incision site hurt. The abdomen around the wound should not hurt at all. After discharge, the patient is recommended to wear a bandage. The patient is discharged from the hospital 7–10 days after removal of the appendix, after removing the external sutures. This concludes the postoperative period after removal of appendicitis.
Throughout the patient’s stay in the hospital, doctors monitor the following procedures:
- control of physiological recovery parameters;
- detoxification (for example, if there was purulent appendicitis);
- monitoring the patient's condition and symptoms of complications;
- monitoring the condition of the suture (no bleeding).
Features of recovery after appendicitis include a number of restrictions on the usual lifestyle or bad habits.
How to avoid making mistakes in diagnosis?
In order to notice a problem such as appendicitis in time, you should listen very carefully to the signs that the body gives us.
The symptoms of appendicitis are quite eloquent, and they simply cannot be ignored:
- Pain. Acute pain in the upper abdomen is the main symptom, which clearly indicates that appendicitis is beginning to progress. As a rule, with such a painful attack, a person cannot show the place where exactly the pain comes from. It is not concentrated at one point and can become vague, sometimes manifesting itself even in the epigastric zone under the stomach. What is noteworthy is that the intensity of pain manifests itself differently in each person, but until measures are taken to solve the problem, it will not subside for a minute.
- Deterioration of general condition. Nausea, vomiting and almost complete refusal to eat also indicate that unhealthy changes are occurring in the body. As a rule, nausea occurs during periods of exacerbation of pain, while vomiting is observed only in the first hours of the development of the disease. If vomiting occurs repeatedly, this indicates that peritonitis is progressing in the patient’s body.
- Heat. In most cases, an attack of appendicitis is also accompanied by a sharp increase in temperature. Even the best antipyretic drugs will not be able to cope with it - after a few hours it will return to the previous level. If no increase in temperature is observed, you should not assume that you can wait to solve the problem! This phenomenon only indicates that the disease simply does not have an acute phase.
If you notice at least one of the above symptoms, a person should not hesitate to go to a medical facility! On average, appendicitis develops in 6-8 hours, and the pain lasts the same amount of time. It is categorically not recommended to delay any longer, because in this case a relatively simple surgical intervention can turn into a full-fledged abdominal operation, complications after which will be quite difficult to avoid.
Some questions
Rehabilitation after removal of appendicitis lasts from one to several months. This is a lot of work on the part of the patient. The patient should know how to behave during this period, whether there are contraindications, what recommendations make recovery easier and faster. It is important to know about the rules of hygiene, nutrition, physical activity and other procedures that the patient encounters daily.
Swimming, pool, sauna
Before the stitch is removed, doctors prohibit showering and swimming. Hygiene can be maintained by washing specific areas. It is better to wipe the abdomen with a wet sponge to prevent water from entering the wound. You should not take a bath or swim for 2 weeks after surgery. After the stitches are removed, you are allowed to shower. The swimming pool after appendicitis is allowed only after the wounds have completely healed, as you need to swim there. Such premature activity can cause wound dehiscence. It is recommended to visit the bathhouse no earlier than every month.
Tanning and solarium
For the first time after an appendectomy, it is not recommended to expose the wound to sunlight and ultraviolet radiation; therefore, it is forbidden to go to a solarium or to places where the scar will be exposed to the sun (for example, the beach). Later, you are allowed to sunbathe, but it should be taken into account that the tan will not be uniform, since the incision site must be covered.
Exercise therapy after appendix surgery will have a beneficial effect on overall health and postoperative recovery.
Physical activity
Prevention of most complications includes breathing exercises. Exercise therapy includes simple exercises that are first performed while lying on your back. It is recommended to do the exercises while still in the hospital and continue at home. Wearing a bandage is mandatory only for children and overweight people. This will help prevent the wound from spreading. Several weeks after discharge, if your condition allows, you should start walking. Walking is done at a slow pace. You should avoid playing sports until the scar is completely healed (hardening at the incision site). This requires more than one week. Usually, sports are allowed after one decade, but you can pump up your abs and lift weights no earlier than six months later.
Smoking after surgery
Cigarette lovers almost immediately after surgery are interested in the question of whether it is possible to smoke after appendicitis. Smoking has an extremely bad effect on the human body, especially on the respiratory system. After an appendectomy, smoking a cigarette can trigger laryngospasm. Based on this, it is strictly forbidden to smoke for 3 days after surgery. If the patient experiences peritonitis, smoking is not recommended for 7 days after surgery.
Intimate life
If the surgical intervention went well with uncomplicated appendicitis, it is recommended to observe sexual rest for 7 days. Sometimes it is allowed to have sex earlier, but subject to a passive position on the part of the patient, avoiding abdominal tension. A return to normal intimate life is allowed seven days after the threads are removed.
Diet food
Diet after leaving the hospital is extremely important. The symptoms that accompany recovery depend on what kind of nutrition you eat. Breaking your diet can cause negative consequences. Sometimes errors cause death. You are allowed to eat low-fat chicken or beef broths, rice, and drink fresh juices diluted with water. Rosehip decoction or herbal tea without sugar are useful. Later, porridge, slimy soups, sour milk, and lean meat are introduced into the diet. All harmful products are completely prohibited. Parents should ensure that children are not given sweets, as they irritate the intestines.
What complications can there be?
Any operation is associated with risks and complications. Appendectomy may be accompanied by severe blood loss, which depends on the skill of the doctor. There may be breathing problems, especially if the right side or wound hurts a lot. This is due to the inability to breathe deeply, which can lead to hypoxia. Bloating and urinary retention due to the use of muscle relaxants can provoke urinary or intestinal paresis. There is a risk of developing thromboembolism, inflammation, and fistulas. Sometimes purulent-septic complications occur in the wound (with poor treatment). Postoperative treatment can cause diarrhea after appendicitis, which lasts up to a month.
General recommendations
To speed up the healing process and bring the moment when you can have full sex after an appendectomy closer, you should follow a number of instructions and recommendations:
- Until the stitches are removed, avoid getting water into the wounds;
- Watch your diet;
- Refrain from smoking and alcohol during the recovery period;
- To reduce the likelihood of adhesions forming - breathing exercises;
- Physical activity is general strengthening, measured, with a gradual increase in effort.
- If you suspect appendicitis, consult a doctor as soon as possible - for not too advanced forms of the disease, the operation is performed using three punctures, after which healing occurs faster and almost painlessly.
