Post prostatectomy physical exercises and when?

Hi,
Let your doctor be your guide on what and when of activities. I was walking in the hospital hours after surgery, continued walking at home doing laps in the house with the cath in. More walking after the cath was out, building to light exercise when the doctor permitted. Don’t want to risk a hernia by doing to much too soon.

Dave 3+4

@floridason here is a link to Dr Newton's talk at the 2025 PCRI Conference. His book delves deeply into the science of exercise and how it is relevant and is a vital component of cancer care, pre treatment, during treatment and post treatment. You may enjoy listening to this while waiting for his book to be delivered.
Edit: I only meant to post the link, not this entire page, if this goes against forum rules please correct.

@carlsbadguy, thank you. i will listen to that and appreciate it greatly.

In addition to the recommendations already ( no lifting, follow medial advice, walking etc) I would recommend connecting Kegels (Pelvic Floor Muscle retraining) into new routines and challenges progressively and thoughtfully.

In other words, after laying around with a catheter for a while (in my case two weeks) my bladder and PFMs were out of sync, when I sat, got up, got down, moved around I leaked. I was doing Kegels religiously and they helped over time, However when I started taking walks. I was now using different muscle groups and core forces and leaking was pronounced. Same thing with lifting, bike riding. shoveling whatever. I had to learn to incorporate Kegles into these various routines otherwise both stress and urgency incontinence regressed. even now ( 16 months post RARP) new routines can set me back. For example, i am great on a stationary recumbent bike. I recently began riding a real bike in the real world-- result= regression until about a week or so

I wish you good luck

I support all the recommendations so far. My surgeon told me I could bike 3 week after surgery. I thought he was crazy but I tried it 3 weeks to the day--very carefully and on a stationary bike:); needless to say I didn't want to deal with bumps in the road at that point.
I also suggest doing kegels before the surgery, ideally under the care of a pelvic floor PT person if you can get it covered by insurance. And if not, try to line it up far in advance as those people get booked up quickly.
Good luck!

I think the best thing is after the catheter is removed do your Kegel exercises but take it easy with those as well. I’ve been noticing a little lump near my groin area. It seems when I walk too much or do too much they appeared, but when I rest and took it easy, they disappeared. I’ve had hernia operations already in the past so I am just discussing it with my team and doing what they suggest. I’m two weeks after surgery. I think I over walked yesterday, because this morning I feel a little lump and irritation so I’m gonna take it easy. My suggestion is to do what others have mentioned in this chat, which is follow your doctors instructions. Just take it easy. What’s the rush?

I also agree with all the recs. The most important thing I've learned post-prostatectomy and post radiation (8 weeks of 'clean up' is learning about every conceivable bladder irritant. There is an extensive chart I found on the Brigham Women's site and my urology group gave me one as well. If you are leaking, you must follow the instructions of the things to avoid otherwise you're wasting your time with the kegels (in my opinion). The kegels are absolutely necessary as well but consuming bladder irritants will destroy your continence.

@layingthegroundwork there is a fine line between rushing things and wasting time I could be rehabbing. At 70 the “sands of time” mentality.

Plus losing fitness happens fast.

I appreciate your answer and will certainly do what the team suggests. Working with pelvic floor staff to not overdo kegels and do them correctly to prevent straining something.

Best regards

I had the single-incision DaVinci Robotic-Assisted Prostatectomy. I spent two nights in the hospital - one completely unnecessary. I was walking at the end of the first day. A Physical Therapist walked with me to make sure I was stable, etc. They even took me to a stairwell and had me walk up and down a flight of stairs. And...
At home was a different story. Within a day or so I realized what a "deep intrusion" the radical prostatectomy was to my body. The incision was about 2.5" wide and about 3" below my navel. "Straight down" inward from there in a spreading, radiating manner, I felt like I had been pummeled, beat up, and stomped. I was rather surprised at the level of pain. It was pain that blew past what one might say is "level 1" pain, as well as levels 2, 3, 4,...8. This was profound, "deep" "9-level" pain, that instantly said "Nope...can't do that yet" each time I tried to do something. There was no pain when laying around or simply shuffling around my house, but when I mindlessly turned/twisted my upper torso separate from what my lower body was doing, it was an instant "hard stop" painful moment laced with profanity and disbelief that a human could feel that much pain.
Comparison...Mind you, I had rotator cuff/torn labrum/impingement surgery 10 years prior which my surgeon said is the most painful surgery a "man" can have, and only one thing exceeds the pain of shoulder surgery: child birth. I asked my surgeon why he didn't tell me? He said, if I told my patients how painful rotator cuff and labrum surgery is, more than half would not have it done." I said "Yep". With that, I nearly became addicted to Percocet (Oxycontin). I metabolize/eliminate medicines from my body quickly. The typical dosing for Percocet 10-325 is every 6-8 hours. The pain was so intense that I'd be asleep, and my supposed "6-hours worth dose" of Percocet would only last 2-3 hours, and the pain would suddenly surge and pulled me out of my sleep, with me yelling in pain. The DaVinci prostatectomy was not that bad, but felt much deeper and ominous...like something is very, very wrong. I likened it to what it must feel like in your final moments of life, when you know you have been mortally wounded...deep and profound. My urologist assured me that what I was feeling was absolutely to be expected, and similarly added that he didn't tell me because I likely would not have had the surgery. THEY LIE TO US!!! Lastly, and BTW...make sure your urologist writes you a prescription for "Pelvice Floor Physical Therapy." It is a sub-speciality of Physical Therapy with specially trained therapists. Your insurance or Medicare Plan will likely only approve 2 sessions, but your PFPT Therapist will simple write a justification for 8 sessions. These exercises start where Kegel's leave off. There are many more exercises to include breathing exercises, to help you regain your urinary continence (which will take 3-9 months).