At a risk of hernia

I am at a risk of hernia. I want to know if anybody here ever had hernia or has come across it and what did you do to prevent and recover from it. I am thinking of getting the hernia surgery from Shouldice Hospital near by. I want to make my normal life comfortable. Anyone had any experience with this specific injury/diagnosis? Just curious to know from anyone who had something similar to sports hernia before and how you fixed it. Please share your suggestions.

Inguinal or umbilical?

I had an inguinal hernia on my left side, it never hurt but was noticeable and wanted to get it fixed before something went bad (from my understanding if you wait until it hurts (strangulated) you don't really get a say in surgery anymore.

This was before I was climbing, but was lifting heavy on a regular basis.

I had arthroscopic surgery to fix it. The first could barely get up off the couch (and you can't sit straight up at all, kind of roll and push). The second week was improved and ended up back at work. No exercise until I believe after 5 weeks when the doctor said I could resume normal activity.

I vividly remember going back to the gym, doing 12 push-ups to 'warm up' and it was so hard I just went home. I was strong before my surgery, could put up the 100's for reps on dumbbell press. 5 weeks of literally wasting away lying down took a serious toll, but another month of exercise and I was right back on track and there's no residual pain or any issues since then (around 10 years ago).

I was probably 22-23 at the time, I'd imagine the recovery is a bit more difficult the older you are. Either way, probably better to get the surgery before something goes wrong, I'm pretty sure if you wait until there's a problem you won't get the fancy arthroscopic surgery and they'll just have to slice you open and make for a much worse recovery time.

That being said.. I'm not a doctor, just my personal experience I would think a sports medicine shop could provide some better guidance.

I had a really bad inguinal hernia that I lived with for a couple of years. It was usually never a problem, but I'll spare you the details for when it was.

You can either choose to live with it or just get it fixed. I'd recommend the latter. Some are only put down a day (I presume small ops) but I was down for about two weeks. Two a couple more weeks to gain my strength and flexibility back in that region.

Four years later I'm glad to not have to deal with it.