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.