Recommendations for exercise post surgery from different clinics - a summary

[consequence]

TL;DR: The ranges for recommendations regarding a return to full exercise activity levels range from 3 days to 1 month. About 60% of the more recognizable names say "light exercise" (ie. about one-third of usual effort, not working up a sweat) is okay at 2 weeks with full exercise at 4 weeks, 30% say full exercise at 2 weeks and the remaining 10% have varying or ambiguous recommendations.

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It's pretty bizarre the lack of uniformity across different surgeons recommendations for post op care, particularly for exercise. The general party line is to follow your surgeon's recommendations, that way if something goes wrong you can at least lay it at their feet. But I think for the sake of discussion we can get to a more granular consensus.

Exercise too soon and you could dislodge a graft or get folliculitis, but wait to resume activity too late and you impair circulation and suppress your growth hormone response. The lack of uniformity suggests that most really don't know (because the research hasn't been done yet) so they're just "guessing" based on their patients. There really is no barrier to entry for a physician that wants to do hair restoration so you're just rolling the dice agreeing with a random website otherwise, especially as there are literally hundreds of different hair transplantation sites on the internet that each offer their own set of instructions.

To cut through this Gordian mess I restricted my search to the docs that have more of a presence on different forums through patient submitted cases and ordered them roughly in order of consistency of their results by my estimation:

• Couto: No physical effort or contact sport in the first week. Can do contact sports at 15 days.

 

• Feriduni: After 1 week: Cardiovascular training: jogging, walking, swimming (salt water). These activities could be resumed at 30 % of your usual effort. Sexual activity is allowed, just be careful with your head during the first week. Use of a baseball cap. / After 2 weeks: Cardiovascular training: jogging, walking, swimming (chorine water). These activities could be resumed at 30 % of your usual effort. Use of a wool cap / After 4 weeks: Heavy power lifting, teamsports such as soccer, basketball are allowed but keep avoiding hard hits to the head until 3 months postoperative. Wearing a (motor) helmet is again allowed without any restriction. / After 12 weeks: Contact sports (boxing, kickboxing, MMA,..)

 

• Konior: If you’re a runner, you’ll need to keep your running shoes off for about 14 days. By the end of that 14 days, you should be able to return to most of the usual activities you did before the hair transplant. Even though you can’t run for the first 14 days after hair transplant surgery, you can still do very light cardio to improve circulation. Walking in the first couple of days is a good way to stay semi-active. As you get closer to the 14-day mark, you can increase the duration and distance of your walks, though be mindful of sweating and overheating yourself. Remember, you’re still healing. Even though that 14-day window is over, that doesn’t mean you can get back to running at full speed. It’s important to ease back into your running routine just to be extra careful with your healing scalp. While jogging may be approved after about 14 days, some kinds of exercise may not be approved at that point. Light strength training is usually okay at this time, but major weight lifting routines should still be avoided until the four-week mark. Swimmers could need to wait some more before they return to the water.

 

• True & Dorin: Generally, most patients will want to wait about two weeks before they lace up their running shoes again. This will give the scalp ample time to recover. By this point, patients should be able to return to most of their normal activities they enjoyed before surgery.  Even though you can’t run until you get the approval from our NYC hair restoration surgeons, you can still walk to stay in shape. Keep the walks light at first just to promote circulation but not break a sweat. As you get closer to the 14-day mark, you can increase the distance and duration of your walks. Continue to keep the activity light just to be on the safe side. While jogging may be okay after two weeks, other exercises may need additional time. For instance, resistance training with light weights is okay two weeks after surgery, but you may need to wait for a month after surgery to return to heavy lifting and intense strength training. Swimmers may also need to wait before they return to the water.

 

• Cinik: In general, and depending on the donor area, you should avoid any kind of physical activity that could cause you to sweat for the first week. After that, you may engage in some light physical activity like brisk walks, household chores, and stretching for another week. Two weeks after the procedure, you can slowly get back to your regular training routine at the gym or things like running and cycling. However, if you play more intense contact sports like boxing, wrestling, and rugby, or run triathlons, you’ll need to wait at least 4-5 weeks before getting back to your regular training routine.

 

• Eugenix: You can start heavy physical exercise after 6-7 days.

 

• Epstein: 1 week: You may resume your normal activities, including light exercise, provided your surgeon doesn’t advise otherwise. You can resume your regular routine, including swimming, exercising, and washing your head like normal. You can resume your regular routine, including swimming, exercising, and washing your head like normal.

 

• Maras: The following day from your transplant procedure, it is advisable that you stay home and rest. The following 3 days you can begin taking on, light day-to-day work. At the same time, you should avoid any form of exercise for the first 15 days, especially lifting of heavy objects. After 15 days light exercise e.g. use of treadmill or swimming in sea water is ok.

 

• Erdogan: Exercises should be avoided for the first 2 weeks after the hair transplantation. Two weeks after the operation, you can start with light exercises without weight lifting. When you complete the first month, you can go with regular activities, and in 2-3 months, you will be free to do close impact sports such as football, basketball, martial arts, etc. There are no restrictions regarding your daily life (going to work, shopping, walking, etc.)

 

• Mohebi: You can resume all of your regular physical activities and sports after day 5.

 

• Armani: No strenuous exercise for a minimum of 14 days. Try not to lean your head forward to type or read for the next 2-3 days as this will increase the chance of swelling around your face. DO NOT drink alcoholic beverages for two days following your transplant.

 

• Shapiro: It is not necessary to wait a full two weeks unless you kick boxing or doing some other sports wherein you might get hit in the back of the head (we have had some ju jitsu experts get a hair transplant procedure) and again, we side with caution. It's fine to resume heavy lifting, but for dumbbells of 50 pounds or more, it's better to wait the two weeks so that we are sure that you do not strain so much that you tear the suture area. (This did happen once, but only once in in twenty years.)

 

• Asmed: If you exercise on a regular basis, you may be eager to resume your regular fitness program following your hair transplant operation. However, it is critical that you limit your exercise for the first 14 days after surgery. It is recommended that you take it easy for the first 5 days after your hair transplant and get as much rest as possible. You might be surprised to learn that your regular workout regimen can usually be resumed two weeks after FUE surgery. After one week, you may begin taking baby efforts to incorporate a mild activity that does not make you sweat back into your everyday routine.

 

• Feller: At the 10 day mark, the grafts are fully anchored, the staples are removed (meaning you can trim the rest of your hair if desired), the transplant truly looks like a clean buzz-cut, and most patients now go back to school, work, et cetera without much unwanted attention. Most clinics will also now allow patients to resume normal exercise activity.

 

• Longevita: It is recommended that you completely rest for a couple of days after the surgery. However, if you feel like it, you can take short, light walks. Here, it is important that you do not make yourself sweat. So, make sure to walk in a cool area, out of the sunlight. You should also walk slowly so that your blood pressure doesn’t rise. And the moment you feel like you can’t do any more of it, you should rest. It’s a good idea to take small walks because they can promote blood circulation, which can supply oxygen and nutrients to the healing grafts. However, you have to be careful about not overdoing it. As the days pass and you feel more like yourself, you’d want to take long walks. For at least 2 weeks, you should only consider walking only (while making sure that you’re not sweating). After that, you can engage in some different activities. / 2 Weeks  – Post Transplant 2 weeks after the hair transplant, you can start doing some light exercises. As far as “light” exercises are concerned, it may be any of the following: Cycling Yoga Pilates Golfing Rollerblading (careful not to get injured) Tai Chi Rowing Elliptical Sweating is not a concern after 2 weeks have passed. That’s because the wounds on your scalp will have closed up by then. Still, you’re in the early stages of recovery, and your skin is sensitive. That’s why it’s better to only do light exercises only from 2 weeks to a month - You still need to be careful about not hurting your scalp. In the case of a FUT hair transplant, you’d have to be more careful about exercises that require stretching. That’s because any exercise that makes the skin of the neck stretch can make the healing wound come apart. Your doctor may recommend you to wait a little longer than 2 weeks to start doing light exercises. / 1 Month  – Post Transplant One month after a hair transplant, you can resume your normal exercise routine. This means that you can go back to the gym and do exercises like: Shoulder press Deadlift Chest press Push-ups Squats & lunges High-intensity interval training (HIIT) Jump ropes Climbing stairs/step-ups This list is not exhaustive. You can also start swimming after a month has passed. If at any point you feel unsure about a particular exercise, make sure to consult your doctor about it. It’s understandable that patients want to go back to their old routines as soon as possible. However, these exercises will make you sweat, increase your blood pressure, and can cause injury. That’s why it’s best to wait till the grafts are secure in place. / 2-3 Months  – Post Transplant If you play contact sports, you need to wait for at least 2-3 months. That’s because this kind of exercise after a hair transplant has a high risk of injuries. If your scalp is impacted any time before that, the skin trauma can end up damaging the hair grafts permanently. Before performing any of the following sports, make sure to consult your doctor: Wrestling Football Basketball Karate Lacrosse Hockey Rugby Handball.

 

• Rassman: After 3-4 days, short of swimming, you can do any exercise you want, even run a marathon. heaving lifting is ok. <-- this is almost certainly bad advice

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Would be interested to hear the recommendations of your own surgeons and the post op regimen you ended up following. Happy growing folks.

Edited June 11, 2023 by consequence

[Youth_Again]

I was thinking of using GH during my recovery period since it could stimulate a faster recovery 😅 still not 100% sure if I want to do that or not

[general-etwan]

I agree about the wide variety of guidance depending on clinic. It's strange, but some will want to put out extra-cautious guidance while others just keep it to the simple scientific truth. In my opinion, I think no physical exercise should be done for 1 week after transplant (just typical movement whatever required for daily activities, assuming your job isn't physically-intense. Someone like a construction worker would definitely need to take time off work). After 1 week, I really think light to moderate athletic activity is fine. Sports are fine, as long as they are not extremely strenuous. After my first HT, I resumed weightlifting after 1 week once all scabs were off and had no problems. Contact sports I would definitely give 2 weeks. I think at 2 weeks, assuming no complications, full activity can be resumed even for intense athletic people with no worries.

Edited June 13, 2023 by general-etwan

[consequence]

On 6/12/2023 at 3:15 PM, Youth_Again said:

I was thinking of using GH during my recovery period since it could stimulate a faster recovery 😅 still not 100% sure if I want to do that or not

So random you said that but I have been thinking the EXACT same thing.

There are peptides that support growth hormone formulation at a more gentle scale and allegedly mimic human physiology more accurately (sarmorelin, hexarelin) but their effect is considerably less than somatropin (ie. legit HGH).  There was one user on HRN several years ago that had a pretty amazing result in the setting of GH though there's really almost no data on whether or not it helps or hurts otherwise.

The theory of HGH (telling your body to grow) seems like it would make sense, and young people do in general seem to have much better results than older transplant recipients, but at the end of the day this is all broscience. 

[consequence]

In general I think the 30% of full activity from weeks 2-4 and back to normal after 4 weeks is probably the best recommendation, though I think if someone is younger or a fast healer they can go earlier while if someone is older or a slow healer they should back off.

It also looks like True & Dorin took their recs from Konior's website or vice versa. 🤐

[Youth_Again]

25 minutes ago, consequence said:

So random you said that but I have been thinking the EXACT same thing.

There are peptides that support growth hormone formulation at a more gentle scale and allegedly mimic human physiology more accurately (sarmorelin, hexarelin) but their effect is considerably less than somatropin (ie. legit HGH).  There was one user on HRN several years ago that had a pretty amazing result in the setting of GH though there's really almost no data on whether or not it helps or hurts otherwise.

The theory of HGH (telling your body to grow) seems like it would make sense, and young people do in general seem to have much better results than older transplant recipients, but at the end of the day this is all broscience. 

Yeah at the end of the day there not much studies proving it could be effective I agree. 
 

just wondering, post op are you using oral minoxidil right away or you have to wait 2-3 weeks? 
min the pre op they told me to stop min 2 weeks prior to surgery 

[Gatsby]

I think the biggest risk to commencing exercise too early after surgery is simply banging your head!

[consequence]

5 hours ago, Youth_Again said:

Yeah at the end of the day there not much studies proving it could be effective I agree. 
 

just wondering, post op are you using oral minoxidil right away or you have to wait 2-3 weeks? 
min the pre op they told me to stop min 2 weeks prior to surgery 

I didn't stop my oral minoxidil before surgery, I was only told to stop if using it topically.

[jfally]

I’m someone that goes to gym 4-6 days per week, lifts heavy, does cardio, and always targets 12-15k steps outside of exercise daily.

Naturally 2-4 weeks of rest is not appealing at all to me but I do understand and appreciate that strong recommendation in the name of healing/optimal growth odds.
 

My tentative gameplan is to head to my local indoor shopping mall (or Target or Walmart) and walk (leisurely walk as if I were there to shop) daily for the first two weeks. It’s air conditioned and I can stroll for 20-60 mins and feel like I’m not just slimming around.
 

I’m also looking at this training pivot as a forced deload period where I anticipate random aches and pains and strains healing bc I’m not great at taking rest weeks regularly. 
 

That’ll be my “exercise”. 
 

 

[RTC]

1 hour ago, jfally said:

I’m someone that goes to gym 4-6 days per week, lifts heavy, does cardio, and always targets 12-15k steps outside of exercise daily.

Naturally 2-4 weeks of rest is not appealing at all to me but I do understand and appreciate that strong recommendation in the name of healing/optimal growth odds.
 

My tentative gameplan is to head to my local indoor shopping mall (or Target or Walmart) and walk (leisurely walk as if I were there to shop) daily for the first two weeks. It’s air conditioned and I can stroll for 20-60 mins and feel like I’m not just slimming around.
 

I’m also looking at this training pivot as a forced deload period where I anticipate random aches and pains and strains healing bc I’m not great at taking rest weeks regularly. 
 

That’ll be my “exercise”. 
 

 

Show delts brother

Edited July 22, 2023 by RTC

[BackFromTheBrink]

At my first clinic they said 14 days post surgery.

For my second it is more nuanced - 15 days for cardio and 30 days for heavy lifting. 

The two issues they're trying to mitigate is excess sweating (which could lead to infection) and high blood pressure in the scalp which could lead to grafts popping.

Personally I think it's generally understood that grafts are anchored after 14 days so that's probably the time I'd be comfortable with exercise and moderate lifting, working back up to heavy lifting as I feel comfortable afterwards.

[Melvin- Admin]

If you had FUE, you can resume regular exercise at 14 days. Now, if you're an MMA fighter or someone who does BJJ you might want to wait until 3 weeks. But if you're talking regular gym resistance training 14 days is enough to do whatever you want in the gym, including squats and deadlifts. 

[RTC]

3 hours ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

If you had FUE, you can resume regular exercise at 14 days. Now, if you're an MMA fighter or someone who does BJJ you might want to wait until 3 weeks. But if you're talking regular gym resistance training 14 days is enough to do whatever you want in the gym, including squats and deadlifts. 

3 weeks? I've seen clinics say 3 months for contact sports like MMA etc. But three weeks sounds excellent 

[asterix0]

What about just body weight exercises such as pushups, squats, pull ups? 

[RTC]

On 7/22/2023 at 7:11 PM, RTC said:

3 weeks? I've seen clinics say 3 months for contact sports like MMA etc. But three weeks sounds excellent 

Retweet - does anybody have any thoughts on this? Particularly for wrestling

[jfally]

2 hours ago, RTC said:

Retweet - does anybody have any thoughts on this? Particularly for wrestling

Having done far too much research/reading over the last couple years, currently one week post FUE, and having grown up wrestling....I'd likely wait at least 5-6 weeks.

Knowing the grafts are secure at 10-14 days can def have us feeling ready to get back to life, but between the financial and emotional investment a procedure entails, I'd def err on the side of caution/patience to get max return.

Depending on what you were drilling you may be perfectly fine with zero issues 3-4 weeks post, or it could be the one time you end up doing a bridge or certain roll where you put torsion directly on your scalp just right and end up compromising something that was in the later stages of healing but not quite yet 100%.

Also, if it were me, I'd probably be hyperaware of my scalp/favoring it, so it'd impact my movement, and any time in a situation like that I usually end up hurting myself awkwardly bc I was favoring something when I should've just not been training. 

(I'm also a worst case-worrier, so do with that what you will)

[Youth_Again]

On 7/22/2023 at 5:09 AM, jfally said:

I’m someone that goes to gym 4-6 days per week, lifts heavy, does cardio, and always targets 12-15k steps outside of exercise daily.

Naturally 2-4 weeks of rest is not appealing at all to me but I do understand and appreciate that strong recommendation in the name of healing/optimal growth odds.
 

My tentative gameplan is to head to my local indoor shopping mall (or Target or Walmart) and walk (leisurely walk as if I were there to shop) daily for the first two weeks. It’s air conditioned and I can stroll for 20-60 mins and feel like I’m not just slimming around.
 

I’m also looking at this training pivot as a forced deload period where I anticipate random aches and pains and strains healing bc I’m not great at taking rest weeks regularly. 
 

That’ll be my “exercise”. 
 

 

I was planning on doing the same, taking a few weeks off the gym is not bad, helps recovering, your CNS needs rest if you are always lifting heavy without having any deload weeks

[RTC]

3 hours ago, jfally said:

Having done far too much research/reading over the last couple years, currently one week post FUE, and having grown up wrestling....I'd likely wait at least 5-6 weeks.

Knowing the grafts are secure at 10-14 days can def have us feeling ready to get back to life, but between the financial and emotional investment a procedure entails, I'd def err on the side of caution/patience to get max return.

Depending on what you were drilling you may be perfectly fine with zero issues 3-4 weeks post, or it could be the one time you end up doing a bridge or certain roll where you put torsion directly on your scalp just right and end up compromising something that was in the later stages of healing but not quite yet 100%.

Also, if it were me, I'd probably be hyperaware of my scalp/favoring it, so it'd impact my movement, and any time in a situation like that I usually end up hurting myself awkwardly bc I was favoring something when I should've just not been training. 

(I'm also a worst case-worrier, so do with that what you will)

I don't think you can adequately protect your head regardless of what you're drilling.

Usual advice is 3 months but that's way too much.. I might give it 6 weeks too. I don't see how that will be a problem