4 replies to this topic

[gordonr]

HI,

I will shortly be having abdominal surgery, and I understand that heavy lifting is a danger post-op. But, as we all know, heavy lifting (as in transfers and even just turning over in bed) is the name of the game for the spinally injured.

I am a t5 complete lesion (30 years), so I do everything with arm strength. Am I likely to force the abdominal muscles enough to cause trouble when I transfer?

Has anybody dealt with these issues?

Thanks,

Gordon

[Slowlegs]

gordonr, on Jan 13 2009, 06:41 PM, said:

HI,

I will shortly be having abdominal surgery, and I understand that heavy lifting is a danger post-op. But, as we all know, heavy lifting (as in transfers and even just turning over in bed) is the name of the game for the spinally injured.

I am a t5 complete lesion (30 years), so I do everything with arm strength. Am I likely to force the abdominal muscles enough to cause trouble when I transfer?

Has anybody dealt with these issues?

Thanks,

Gordon

Hi,
I would think that as you use your arms mainly for lifting yourself you won't be using your abs, mainly your arms to lift your legs. Obviously you should check with your doctor as they would be the best to answer those questions and level of injury. I have had over 100 surgeries, about 80 of those were abdominal. My doctors constantly tell me "no heavy lifting". In the past twenty years I have pulled engines and transmissions out of cars, built retaining walls, decks, dug a few fish ponds and done landscape gardening. My dad is almost 90 so a few times I have lifted him too. I hurt my back when lifting him. The worst thing I have done is pulled a muscle in my back when I was blocked in a carpark by some moron who parked across a driveway behind me. I had to do a 16 point turn in an old yank tank with no power steering using a steering wheel spinner. Looking back, as I had big old chrome bumpers and hers were just plastic I should have just pushed her out of the way. Thing is, if you are going to lift, consult your doctors, start small and learn your limits.

Edited by Slowlegs, 13 January 2009 - 07:15 PM.

[Trinity]

I would have thought that if you have no use of your abdominal muscles then it shouldn't be an issue, in fact as far as recovery goes it could even be a benefit

[gordonr]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the quick reply. Both of you are saying something that I suspect too, that I won't be forcing my abs becasue my abs are paralysed. But this doesn't seem to entirely hold. There is some spontaneous tightenning of these muscles when I start to lift myself up. How much is hard to tell, as I can't feel the muscle at the same time as I am using both arms to lift my body.

Hopefully, though, what you are saying will turn out to be true. Ideally, I would like to get right back up in my chair. That reduces clotting risks and is just generally better for your health than lying around.

But Slowlegs: as for starting slow, I weigh maybe one eighty, so I either lift to transfer, or I don't.

Trinity: Yep, we get a lot less discomfort than normal folks. But the pressure problems from a hospital stay are really daunting.

Best Regards,

Gordon

[Slowlegs]

gordonr, on Jan 13 2009, 08:44 PM, said:

But Slowlegs: as for starting slow, I weigh maybe one eighty, so I either lift to transfer, or I don't.


Gordon

Yes, but how much do you weigh without your legs and do you usually slide or lift yourself completely off the floor? Unless you are lifting yourself off the bed completely your legs won't come into the equation. Your doctor is definitely the best to talk to, whether or not he or she provides extra home help for a while or there is a slide board, a bar, different bed or something similar. Surgery has changed over the years, what used to take a twelve inch cut can now sometimes be done through a keyhole with much less trauma. If you got just a standard form some of it may not apply to you as you are a different case.

Edited by Slowlegs, 14 January 2009 - 06:19 AM.