Members,

It’s has been 2 weeks since my HT (1200+ grafts). Donor area staples are also removed; recipient area (hairline and frontal) is healing normally.

Do you guys suggest starting the workout (indoor in the gym) like running, pushups, sit-ups and crunching? Will excessive sweating cause problem to the recipient area?

Or should I wait for little for time. If YES, how long should I wait before I can start?

Appreciate your suggestions.

BobbyN

Avoid exercised that will put strain on the excision wound for at least 3 months is the advice I have gathered from the various forums. Such exercises would include situps, weight lifting etc.. i guess that gentle jogging after 6 weeks would be fine. Just be careful

Hey... I'm sure it is different for everyone. However, my dr. said I could begin normal exercise after the sutures were taken out at day 10. So, I lifted on post-op day 11-12, different routines, and decided against continuing it because I felt tension, stretching on the donar area, and pressure points in the recipient area.

I waited until day 20 to get back to a normal routine. Made sure I didn't bump or scratch my head or pull on the scar area when I was doing sit-ups. I've never done individual neck exercises...if you do I recomend being careful. At any time you feel tension just stop and wait a few more days. Like with any exercise routine, you are your own boss. Treat your HT like a injury and nurse it back.

At day 30 everything was normal with scar area and I didn't/don't do anything special to protect it. However, the recipient area I still treat like gold- out of paranoia- I'm sure that routine will continue for sometime.

Infact, I kept a log on my healing process becuase I plan to have another session and have to work it into my public life. Fortunately, over the summer I can hide-out for a while. Never the less, day thirty seemed to be the day everything was totally back to the pre-surgery date. It felt great to get that extreme workout sweat again.

Again, be your own guide... 2 weeks isn't to soon as long as everything is healing properly. If you're training to be Mr. Olympus and it involves highly-strenuous manuveurs... just be cautious and don't over due it. In my opinion, lifting is okay as long as your healing properly (no bleeders/bleeding or pain in the donor/recipient areas.)

Answer: go for it, just be careful. ~zerro

Bobby N-- Running is OK as long as it is light and not 100% (I would say maybe up to 70% max). Pushups should be OK, but I would not do set ups/crunches as there is a tendency to pull you head/neck up which would cause your scalp to stretch. YOu might consider an ab machine if your gym has one. ALso, you can start with light weight training like on a smith machine or hammer strength to get the blood circulating again. But I would wait 3 months before max excercising to prevent donor scarring.

Like I said... be careful. If you don't feel any tension, there probably isn't any.

If your worried about doing sit-ups, lay your hands and arms across your chest or flat against your stomach. This will prevent you from pulling and stretching your neck and donor area.

I do nine different stomach crunches at high reps and at 30 days out, I found that I could do them all safely and without pain. The trick is work your stomach and not your neck, back and shoulder areas. Also, if your still worried... try 'pilates' exercises for your stomach. That is a big fad now especially with women, but I see now that 'Men's Health' magizine among others is beginning to support it. And if your still not sure, take smoothy's advice and use a ab machine or just run or jog to burn calories and to stay in shape. Nothing wrong with that! The important thing is to grow hair and to continue to look good below your forehead. Other words, stay healthy.

90 days is along time not to work out if weight-lifting is your thing. I was getting itchy after day 10 to get going. Although, I found out, that was a little too soon. I hate running... but would be happy to jump on a bike if that is all I could do. There are many options out there.

I chose to begin lifting again because I feel it is safe for me to do so. ~zerro

I had 5700 grafts. Started exercising 4 weeks after the procedure. (Last week) One hour regime. 30 minutes stepper and rest some weight training with normal weights. Feels quite OK, expect that sometimes the donor area feels a little itchy but still it has healed well.

But I am concerned about the sweating part. I hope the recepient area does not suffer due to the sweat.

I think some of the above comments are way too conservative and restrictive. I'm not sure anybody knows the exact answer. In my own practice, I have my patients not do any STRENUOUS exercise (wind sprints, lifting heavy weights, full court basketball, etc.) for 5 days and then I don't have any restrictions, as long as the activity does not include wearing a tight-fitting helmet for 7-10 days after surgery (skiing, motor bike, hockey, etc).
I do allow golf, brisk walks, playing catch, etc the very next day. I keep my patient's head out of water for at least a week, for fear some maceration may occur to the grafts and skin.
Why do we have any limitations? Some of it comes under the category of "C.Y.A." - so that if something went wrong of any sort, the doctor doesn't want to be in a position of the patient pointing to something like that as the cause - which would be pretty unlikely, barring a head-on collision during the activity. For my own part as a patient, I once took a 10 mile run the very next day after a large transplant session 20 years ago with no ill effects.
There are three reasons I can think of theoretically that exercise could pose a remote threat: One, with vigorous exercise many of us sweat a great deal. I'm not sure this is a problem of any sort and a brief shower after the activity certainly cleans this up. Number two, as I already mentioned, there would be the risk of a head injury in a team sport such as soccer or basketball. And, number three, which is probably MY main reason for holding things off for 5 days, is that with strenuous activity the blood pressure does go up quite a bit as a normal reaction - and if there was a tiny scalp artery that was clotted off but located right at the edge of one of the many tiny recipient sites or the donor wound, then this could suddenly start bleeding. I have seen this only twice in 19 years.
So, the answer is that nobody knows for sure, but it certainly is overkill to restrict it for months. The one suggestion about not flexing the neck a lot after the donor stitches come out is a good one - as extreme stretching at the back of the neck could put some stretch on the donor scar in its early formative weeks and cause a wider scar.
Mike Beehner, M.D.