Hello, I think I might have inguinal hernia, discovered it yesterday. It's basically a bump that sticks out located on my lower abdomen sometimes. It However, there is an important meet coming up next week, that I don't want to miss. I'm a bit worried that it might start to bulge out during a race. I thought that I might give those fancy racing swimwear a chance for compression.
What swimwear gives the most compression? Never used them before, so I wonder how much compression they give?
I don't think any suits compress in the area of an inguinal hernia. The tight suits just make the bulge more apparent. I know because I had one. Mine started small and was only occasionally sticking out. Two years later it was large and always sticking out unless I was lying on my back. I never stopped training and I swam many meets. With whatever was the latest tech suit (at nationals). Basically I'd shove the bulge back into place while I was standing behind the block waiting for the whistle. Interesting that while I was actually swimming it didn't seem to stick out (racing or working out). Maybe I "suck in" my gut? Anyway it got to where I was having to shove it back into place before I'd do anything: swimming a set, bench pressing, pull-ups, a snowboard run, well you get the idea. So I got it repaired this last fall (after summer nationals at Mission Viejo). Open surgery. Painful recovery. Could barely walk for first few days. Got back into the water on the third day and swam five easy hundreds, with open turns. Its been a slow recovery because I was reluctant to push very hard for a couple months. Looking back I think that I if I had got the repair sooner, it wouldn't have gotten so big and the repair wouldn't have been so difficult. But it never hurt (until the surgery)--it was mainly just annoying although there always was the possibility it might strangulate and cause serious trouble. Good luck!
I don't think any suits compress in the area of an inguinal hernia. The tight suits just make the bulge more apparent. I know because I had one. Mine started small and was only occasionally sticking out. Two years later it was large and always sticking out unless I was lying on my back. I never stopped training and I swam many meets. With whatever was the latest tech suit (at nationals). Basically I'd shove the bulge back into place while I was standing behind the block waiting for the whistle. Interesting that while I was actually swimming it didn't seem to stick out (racing or working out). Maybe I "suck in" my gut? Anyway it got to where I was having to shove it back into place before I'd do anything: swimming a set, bench pressing, pull-ups, a snowboard run, well you get the idea. So I got it repaired this last fall (after summer nationals at Mission Viejo). Open surgery. Painful recovery. Could barely walk for first few days. Got back into the water on the third day and swam five easy hundreds, with open turns. Its been a slow recovery because I was reluctant to push very hard for a couple months. Looking back I think that I if I had got the repair sooner, it wouldn't have gotten so big and the repair wouldn't have been so difficult. But it never hurt (until the surgery)--it was mainly just annoying although there always was the possibility it might strangulate and cause serious trouble. Good luck!
