CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Questions/Support/Help

Cycling after a Pilonidal Sinus?

(15 posts)
  • Started 10 years ago by Mandopicker101
  • Latest reply from Mandopicker101
  • This topic is resolved

  1. Mandopicker101
    Member

    Hello all

    Next month I'm having a pilonidal sinus (basically an abscess caused by in-growing hair) removed from my lower back (right on my coccyx). Antibiotics failed to do anything to it, other than make me feel ill. Surgery is the last resort apparently.

    Advice from the surgeon about recovery wasn't exactly specific other than 'You'll be off work for a few weeks', which is probably understating things given his description of the procedure. I have a stock of DVDs to watch while I heal and reading around suggests recovery times vary (which you'd expect).

    While I've read enough horror stories to keep me awake at night in a cold sweat, I wondered if anyone had experience with this and how did you get on with cycling post-op? The thought of 6 weeks or more without cycling (mid-summer) is rather frustrating...

    Posted 10 years ago #

  2. wingpig
    Member

    If you can keep the sweat out of it...
    My dad had one of them so I'll ask how capacitated he was after it...

    Posted 10 years ago #

  3. Instography
    Member

    Ask the doctor but I knew someone who had that done and she sat on a rubber ring for quite a while. I have bad memories of that and it wasn't even me who had it done. Sorry, but I'd say cycling is probably out mainly because of the jarring your backside gets from bumps in the road.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  4. Dave
    Member

    A prone bike perhaps, Obree style?

    Posted 10 years ago #

  5. Arellcat
    Moderator

    I wondered if anyone had experience with this and how did you get on with cycling post-op? The thought of 6 weeks or more without cycling (mid-summer) is rather frustrating.

    A good acquaintance of mine has had a series of operations on such a condition. The advice was that after 6-8 weeks you're probably ok to ride a recumbent bike, but not necessarily an upright.

    But if you think 6 weeks off the bike is bad, how about 22 weeks? I think that after the first four weeks or so I stopped caring. After about 16 weeks I bought a new bike. :-)

    Posted 10 years ago #

  6. threefromleith
    Member

    I had an op for that very thing in the late 80s. It took quite a while to heal up and left me with very little padding in the coccxyx area for a few years. I didn't cycle back then, but sitting down was very delicate for quite a while afterwards. The wound I had was quite long and had been very deep, which may have made things drag on longer in my case.

    You'll probably have to wait and see how the wound heals and wait 'til it gets to the point that you're not ripping it open again by cycling too soon.

    I'm sure you'll have seen and heard some of the worst cases, but to reassure you - my sister and brother both had the same thing* and none of the three of us have had any further bother.

    * this was so unusual as it's not hereditary or catching, and we all had it within a year of each other. We were contacted by medical researchers years later as it was so rare that they wanted to use us as a case study!

    Posted 10 years ago #

  7. Mandopicker101
    Member

    Thanks everyone for your thoughtful posts (and a rubber ring is now on my shopping list...)

    I'd suspected it was going to be a long haul, although the surgeon isn't proposing 'open healing' and he did seem to think it was all very straightforward.

    To take my mind off the imminent op, I'm riding the Bethany Edinburgh Sportive five days before I check into hospital. As this is my first sportive, it may be a foretaste of what 'suffering' is all about...lol.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  8. SRD
    Moderator

    I've got a used donut pillow for sale. DM me if you want.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  9. gembo
    Member

    I am just back after five week lay off. As consultant predicted, lungs will be fine, heart will be fine but legs will be suffering.

    Did ease myself in with little journeys and some downhills with train back but WoL path both ways yesterday. Very slowly on way home.

    Hope it all goes well. Make sure you are better. Can't see much difference between four weeks off and five weeks off if the extra week makes the difference. I found bus hard but altered my timings, either earlier or later and it was better.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  10. Mandopicker101
    Member

    Thanks Gembo - that's encouraging.

    I could probably stand five weeks off. I had a disc problem over the winter of 2012/2013 which I found very hard to cope with as the osteopath figured riding a bike with drops and skinny tyres on the mean streets of Edinburgh was bad news.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  11. Mandopicker101
    Member

    So, today was The Day. Having handed myself into hospital at tea time, the consultant decided this evening I could be released back into the community as the sinus is currently pretty tiny and has been consistently diminishing in size for a few months. As the consultant put it, sometimes these things burn themselves out. Hopefully I really am that lucky.

    No surgery means no enforced time off the bike. I may even get to see something of the Festival of Cycling. Still the hospital seemed very nice, very clean and very quiet. I can understand the attraction of going private...

    Posted 10 years ago #

  12. SRD
    Moderator

    That's good news! Hope it continues. (Sorry if you don't need the pillow now...)

    Posted 10 years ago #

  13. Mandopicker101
    Member

    @SRD - the pillow is now performing other valuable work in our household, possibly beyond the imagination of its original designer. This evening it became the ideal distraction tool for a tired and mildly grumpy 6 year old near bedtime. Priceless...

    Posted 10 years ago #

  14. SRD
    Moderator

    Let me guess - a hat?

    Posted 10 years ago #

  15. Mandopicker101
    Member

    Hat...gargantuan bagel...biscuit...

    Posted 10 years ago #

RSS feed for this topic

Reply

You must log in to post.


Video embedded using Easy Video Embed plugin