Athletic impact of radical prostatectomy?

Posted by havhav @havhav, Nov 8, 2022

Hi, trying to find out people’s experiences after radical prostatectomy with returning to athletic activities. It seems everywhere discusses the big risks of each treatment option but things like this aren’t really discussed. Not sure if that is because it is not an issue or just the bigger side effects of the surgery shadow the athletic effects. My husband is looking at retropubic (open) RP surgery soon. His surgeon is very experienced (1200+ RP surgeries) so that should be helpful in reducing risk of complications we hope. My husband's is 55 years old and very active. He plays high level tennis multiple times a week for 2+ hours each time. He works out at a gym twice a week with free weights and a lot of flexibility work. Working out and playing tennis at the level he currently plays are both super important to him, both because of enjoyment of activities themselves but also these high intensity athletic endeavors are what keeps him positive and able to deal with life’s knocks, both with himself and people he loves. He is worried that RP will leave him with adhesions and pain with movements that will affect his tennis/work outs. What has been the experience of others on this site? Is that an area that doesn’t usually cause issues or have some people been majorly affected by post RP athletic issues?

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I had a minimally invasive robotic prostatectomy 1 year ago when I was 70 years old. At that point I was not as active as your husband is now, but I ran marathons through most of my 50's and continued to run road races through most of my 60's. The recovery will take time, but I believe that your husband will be able to resume his athletic pursuits within a year of his surgery. The open surgery will take longer to heal, but then he is quite a bit younger than I was. I am back to running without any complications from my prostatectomy, except that I do need to wear a light to medium pad when I run. When I'm not running I wear the thinnest "guard" or "shield" to cover me if I have a slight drip when coughing, sneezing ro lifting something heavy. I do not need anything at night. So once your husband regains continence (and it could be much sooner for him at his age), and once his internal wounds have fully healed, I would expect he will be back to his competitve athletic activities. He'll just need to be patient and not try to do too much too soon.
Good luck!

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Thanks for your reply - your recovery back to running, etc seems to be a great outcome and even the urinary part seems tolerable and likely will also still improve from there over the next year or more from what I understand. Thank you again for sharing your experience on recovering after prostatectomy surgery 🙂

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Hey @havhav I'm a tad older but, within 2 mos was back in the gym, just running to the "head" more than before. It took me about 3-4 mos if memory serves to be able to control while running. Now at about a year, physical activity is pretty much back to normal. Gym 4 x's a week and running 2 miles at a clip and 4 x's a week. Now my knees Haha, that's another story....
Best of Luck!

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I had RP in 2014 at the age of 58, robotic, within two weeks I was back on the basketball court playing full court. I also resumed lifting weights, using the elliptical, swimming, riding my bike, playing pickleball, went hiking in the mountains of Colorado, skiing....

In the hands of a good surgeon (mine was, I had no incontinence when the catheter came out), your husband should be free to do whatever exercise and sports he chooses.

Kevin

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Thank you both so much for your replies - it is super encouraging to see that a return to your athletic pursuits is possible 🙂 Our surgeon is very experienced, hopefully also skilled as experience doesn’t always mean skilled . . . 🤞🤞🤞

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I had rp in 2018. Bcr and radiation in 2021. I bowl, golf lift weights and do cardio. 64 when rp, 68 now. Lost some muscle mass but still do all activities at a high level.

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@itterac

I had rp in 2018. Bcr and radiation in 2021. I bowl, golf lift weights and do cardio. 64 when rp, 68 now. Lost some muscle mass but still do all activities at a high level.

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Sounds like you are still very active without new limitations after your treatments 👍. Thanks so much for your response 🙂

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Good question: I had RP (robotic) in January 22. I was active before and have been since my surgery. I’m 72. My recovery has been slow and steady. I was totally incontinent for 6 weeks. Now I’m 95% continent and wear a thin pad. I still have no erectile function. (My surgeon had to cut “wide” on one side of my prostate.) I’m a runner and ride bikes. Running has been easy and not painful. I just ran my second marathon on October 1. I started biking last June. I experienced some discomfort when I rode my road bike and switched over to my city cruiser, which was fine.
I think you should be able to be active without limitations after your surgery. Good luck.

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