Why Does Someone Have to Walk Bent over After a Full Tummy Tuck?

Because excess skin is removed during the tummy tuck procedure and the remaining skin sutured together you may feel tightness after the surgery. I recommend my patients do not stand straight for a couple of days after their surgery. This is to minimize the discomfort of this tightness and avoid  pulling on the incision lines. However you should follow your surgeon's instructions. 

With a tummy tuck, one is taking of a significant amount of tissue.  Now we have to get you back together.  Most  Plastic Surgeons will bend the patient 30 to 45 degrees at the waist in the operating room.  The wound is on significant tension.  To take tension off this fresh wound, most Plastic Surgeons have the patient rest in a reclining chair, or have three pillows propped up behind them.  They also will have the patients walk "like Groucho Marx" for at fer days.  Most patients are fairly straight in about a week.

The goal of a tummy tuck is to get the skin and muscles tight to improve the abdominal contour.

For some patients, it is more comfortable to flex (bend) at the waist to take some of the tension off of the abdominal skin. This should relax relatively quickly and in less than a week you should be able to stand nearly or totally straight.

By gradually stretching out, much of the strain will be taken off of your lower back, but be careful not to over do it- listen to your body.

Many of my patients will find it difficult to stand up straight after a tummy tuck due to tight muscle repair and skin resection.  However, everyone can walk erect after the first week or two and will usually be able to get back to the beach, gym, or strenuous activities by the third week and beyond. 

There are two main reasons why a person walks bent over after a tummy tuck. One is the muscle plication or tightening and the other is the lower abdominal skin excision. The more skin is excised, the more bent over the patient is. The reason for this, is that most surgeons want the old belly button opening or scar removed and not leave a small vertical scar in the lower abdomen between the belly button and the suprapubic scar. The surgeon needs to assess this preoperatively and inform the patient of this posibility to avoid a very tight closure, causing the patient to be bent over and risk of dehiscence or separation of the closure from undue tension. In my practice I tell my abdominoplasty patients that they might be slightly bent over for a few days and all of them are straight in 3-5 days. If you do not tighten the lower abdominal skin appropriately, then shortly after your procedure after the swelling resolves, you will end up with some loose lower abdominal skin or fold. It takes a lot of experience and judgement to find the happy medium. A board certified plastic surgeon can explain what you can expect from your specific surgery. Good luck.

After tummy tuck, the skin of the abdomen isquite tight and the patients are usually instructed to remain bent over at least 45 degrees for the first 4 to 5 days after surgery.

The recommendations to walk flexed at your waist is to prevent excessive tension or pulling forces at a fresh incision line. you want to give some time for your incision to heal and for the skin to relax.  Generally, most patients after tummy tuck can walk straight in 5-10 days after their procedure.  gradually, you should be able to straighten up more and more each day.

Because a tummy tuck tightens loose or stretched abdominal muscles and a lot of excess skin is removed, you may walk and sit a little hunched over for a few days after the operation. You should not even try to stand up straight during this time because you risk separating the incisions. Also, you should minimize the strenuousness or suddenness of such exertions as coughing, sneezing, laughing, and bowel movements. You can generally return to work in 2 weeks. This surgery takes about 3 hours and can often can be performed as an outpatient procedure under twilight sedation instead of general anesthesia. Postoperative pain pumps have made recovery much faster and easier as well.

This is usually done to take or minimize tension on the suture line.By bending over this lessens the tension.Most of my patients are standing erect a day or two later.

Because so much skin is removed from the lower abdomen during a full tummy tuck, the patient's incision is closed under significant tension.  Therefore the patient must walk bent over to reduce the pain and reduce the tension as the abdominal skin relaxes. Usually the patient can walk upright win the first 1-2 weeks.