Exercising After Breast Augmentation

Women frequently turn to an experienced breast augmentation specialist to improve body contours and feel more confident in their appearance. Breast augmentation patients often do everything they can to enhance surgical results and maintain an attractive figure, which often includes exercise. Exercise is a healthy habit that is beneficial throughout a person’s life, but certain precautions are necessary after surgery.

Dr. Suzanne Yee is happy to provide her Little Rock, AR, patients with some important guidelines regarding exercise after breast augmentation. These guidelines help patients promote surgical healing and maintain health and safety when exercising through surgical recovery and beyond.

Immediately After Surgery

Exercise can play an important role in surgical recovery. Exercise increases blood circulation, which is helpful in preventing blood clots. Exercise can start nearly immediately after surgery, or as soon as the patient has returned home from their breast augmentation procedure.

The key to exercising in the early stages of breast augmentation recovery is to avoid any strenuous activities. At this point, patients should stick to short, frequent walks. Just a short lap around the room every hour or so is enough to get the blood flowing and promote surgical healing. The body needs plenty of rest as it heals and any activity more strenuous than walking could interfere with recovery and increase the risk of complications.

Two Weeks After Surgery

Within a couple of weeks of their procedure, most patients at our Little Rock area cosmetic surgery practice should feel well enough to slightly increase their exercise level. Strenuous and high-impact exercises should still be avoided, but patients can increase the length of their walks, quicken their walking pace, or add in some hills to escalate their heart rate a bit and start rebuilding their stamina.

Four Weeks After Surgery

After a month of surgical recovery, most patients are cleared to resume normal exercise activities. This may include yoga, Pilates, or more strenuous aerobic exercises, such as jogging or using an exercise bike. However, there are still a few activities that should be avoided, especially if breast implants were placed beneath the chest muscles. Heavy lifting (anything that weighs more than 10 pounds) or any exercise that puts strain on the chest muscles, such as push-ups, is not a good idea at this stage of recovery.

Six to Eight Weeks After Surgery

Six to eight weeks after surgery most patients are considered completely healed from breast augmentation. That full-healing window matters when timing a breast procedure before a big event like a wedding, so plan the calendar backward from the date. As long as incisions have healed, inflammation has diminished, and no complications have developed, Dr. Yee should typically clear patients to resume all levels of exercise, including weight lifting, at this point.

General Exercise Tips After Surgery

The timeline above is a general guideline for exercise after surgery, but every patient is unique. It is important to listen to cues from the body regarding what is and is not a good idea after breast augmentation. If an exercise is painful or leads to increased inflammation, it should be avoided. Good support is also important after breast augmentation. When exercising women should wear a sports bra that fits comfortably and minimizes breast movement.

Contact Dr. Suzanne Yee

If you are interested in enhancing your figure by increasing the size of your breasts, Dr. Suzanne Yee can provide you with more information about breast augmentation and the recovery process. To schedule a personal consultation at our Little Rock office, send us a message online or call (501) 214-0650.