Push ups?

[DachsieMom]

i am two years out of surgery. Yesterday, I did several push ups in a workout video (hardwood floor) and in the past week have had to plunge several toilets (I'm small so this requires great effort). My sternal wires really hurt after the last plunging this morning. I am going to stop push ups.....but wondering if this is common?

 

[Paleowoman]

I don't do push ups but I do quite heavy weight lifting, eg chest/bench press of 22 kilos (48.5 pounds), and dumbell flys, 8.25 kilos (18 pounds) per arm which really work the chest muscles. Yes I sometimes get pain/discomfort in the days following a weight lifting session, though not at the actual moment. I do get pain from the wires anyway from time to time, and discomfort when I breath. I mentioned it to my cardiologist and he said first it was costochondritis and then that it was the wires which I couldget removed, but that would be surgically. I also asked my rheumatologist who said that actually pain/discomfort in the sternum after sternotomy is not that uncommon - he was talking about years following surgery ! You might want to go more slowly with fewer reps in the push ups.

What does it mean to "plunge a toilet" ?

 

[zee112]

What do you guys mean by sternal wires? Is this what is left inside of us after surgery?

 

[Paleowoman]

What do you guys mean by sternal wires? Is this what is left inside of us after surgery?

Hi Zee - the wires are what hold the sternum together after surgery while it heals. There are several of them - if you have a chest x-ray of yourself you should be able to make some of them out. You might even be able to feel them under your skin, depending on how skinny you are. I can easily feel mine. Once the sternum is fully healed the wires can be removed if they're a nuisance, but it requires surgery to do that. Some people have their sternum held together by other means, 'talons' or glue, but wires are still the most common method.

 

[pellicle]

Hi

i am two years out of surgery. Yesterday, I did several push ups in a workout video (hardwood floor) and in the past week have had to plunge several toilets (I'm small so this requires great effort). My sternal wires really hurt after the last plunging this morning. I am going to stop push ups.....but wondering if this is common?

if I recall correctly you have identified yourself in the past as "slight build" ... no?

Well, either way the sternum is a flexible bone and does some flexing. I knew a lass (well ok, late 20's) who was into Judo and her wires had to come out because the tumbles and throws were causing her irritation.

I had mine taken out afte rmy surgery at 28 too ... I was into Aikido back then.

I wouldn't get worried but can you explain in more detail? Also its worth raising this with the surgeon / cardio as the wires are often jammed between the bones in awkward places ... so they can cause irritation.

Myself I wouldn't hesitate to have them removed if you were feeling difficult about it

 

[pellicle]

What do you guys mean by sternal wires? Is this what is left inside of us after surgery?

yes (as mentioned above)

this is one of my chest X-Rays post surgery to put in my mechanical valve (before I had the top two removed) (yes, I've had my sternal wires removed twice now).

if you look carefully at the xray you can see:
* previous sternal wires (much thinner guage)
* the valve
* some other junk left behind (staples and **** like that I guess)

this is all why "redo surgery" is problematic

 

[DachsieMom]

Thanks, everyone! I am feeling better, but this happened once before with push ups so I think I will stop.
Pellicle, great picture! Yes, I am slight - about 99 lbs so I can feel and see the wires (or bumps) through my skin. Normally, they are not painful, except for this push up issue.
paleowoman, I meant using the plunger to clear clogs in a toilet. I have two young children and touchy toilets! It requires quite a bit of force for me to use the plunger. I'm also really short and the plunger handle is very long, so I kind of have to get right over it and push down hard MANY times. Not fun! Did it three times this week.

 

[spartangator]

I'll echo prior comments about bringing the issue up with a doc, but for what it's worth, I'm almost a decade out, and the wires still get moody sometimes after push-ups. It's never serious or a limiting issue but not pleasant, either. It's excellent you're back to such activity, though. Keep it up.

 

[Paleowoman]

paleowoman, I meant using the plunger to clear clogs in a toilet. I have two young children and touchy toilets! It requires quite a bit of force for me to use the plunger. I'm also really short and the plunger handle is very long, so I kind of have to get right over it and push down hard MANY times. Not fun! Did it three times this week.

That explains it ! No fun when a toilet blocks........

 

[epstns]

DM - Prior to my surgery I did LOTS of pushups. I used to do 3 sets of 60 pushups daily. I'm not bragging, just setting the stage to show that my upper body muscles were well-toned prior to surgery. After surgery, I couldn't stand to do even ONE pushup for about a year. At first it just hurt too much, then over time, while it didn't hurt, it didn't feel "right." I just waited it out, starting with 10 reps around 15 months after surgery. Even now, fully 6 years out, I am not back to the level I was prior to surgery. I do one set of 35 reps daily, could probably do a second set, but as I get closer to 70 years old, I don't feel that I need to maintain that much muscle mass any more.

I've always just done what feels OK, then just a little bit more. No science to it, just pushing my limits gently until I get results.

 

[SumoRunner]

I don't think I ever had wires holding me together. I can recall having staples which were taken out after just a few weeks with a pair of pliers. It was a couple years before I did pushups again, but it's so long ago now I don't know when. I used to do maybe two sets of 25 each morning prior to surgery. I eventually came back to them because I was doing shot put at the time and needed the arm strength. I do a lot more now, but I'm 25 years out.

 

[Paleowoman]

I don't think I ever had wires holding me together. I can recall having staples which were taken out after just a few weeks with a pair of pliers..

Staples are for the skin incisions: http://www.wikihow.com/Remove-Surgical-Staples Wires are what holds the sternum together until it heals, they'll be inside you and you wouldn't see them except on x-ray and wouldn't know they're there unless you're skinny (but if that's you on your art website - nice paintings btw - you're not skinny), unless your sternum was secured by other means, but wires are the usual way.

 

[Zoltania]

I replaced my toilet with a Toto Drake model, and now I only have to plunge it once a year or so. That might be cheaper than wire-removal surgery .

 

[AZ Don]

It's not the wires themselves that hurt, maybe the muscles around them? Using them in a new way may be the issue, so perhaps if you wanted to keep trying you would build up a tolerance to it. Perhaps not but you should try to do what you want to do.

 

[Warrick]

Having mine removed relieved the daily pain I was having so I can only recommend it 100% , still have the odd niggle but nothing like prior removal

they made 2 x incisions one at the top of my scar and one at the bottom about 3-4 cm long each and removed all 8 wires, so it's nowhere near the ordeal of OHS, think it took them about 1/2 an hour, I stayed on warfarin as advised but did drop my INR down closer to 2 on my own accord, my INR never went below 2.1 so it's wasn't the big deal I thought it would be

 

[DachsieMom]

So today I did the same video but skipped the push ups. I did a series of jogs and jumps where you raise you arms in the air. Same pain! I stopped the video. I assume I didn't pop a wire, or I would be in pain the entire time (it's better now). It seems fine when my arms aren't raised. I happen to have a 6 month cardio check up on Monday so I will ask him. I had an annual physical this afternoon. Regular doctor wasn't concerned. I did plunge another toilet this morning (and call a plumber!).