Manual Labour

[Monkey83]

Just wondering how long it takes post op (excision as well as lipo) before you can go back to doing heavy manual labour.

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

It is extremely variable because it depends on the extent of the surgery and how much manual labor you do.

For my patients, I tend to recommend about one month before they return to heavy exercise or manual labor.  Prior to this, this is an increased risk of swelling, which will obviously lead to a longer recovery process.

Other docs may have different opinions.

Dr Jacobs

[Monkey83]

Thanks doc, I appreciate the reply.

[Litlriki]

I tend to get my patients back into a workout regimen fairly quickly--Cardio in a week, resistance training in 2 weeks, avoid chest for 4 weeks.  That said, you should tailor your behavior to the procedure and the work, based on the recommendations of your surgeon, particularly since a workout situation, which is ultimately easily controlled, is different from a work situation, which may not be so readily controlled. 

Good luck,

Rick Silverman

[Monkey83]

I appreciate the info Dr. Silverman.

[DrPensler]

As you can see from the answers there is some variability for this. I have had a patient go skiing the day after surgery.In general I have patients take it easy for a couple of  days then slowly ramp up their activity level. There is some variability based on what I have done and the patient's presentation.