u/Aggravating-Till3472

For those of you with HS and active flare or open wounds, how do you manage strength training and exercise?or do you just opt for a calorie deficit and control the diet?

My dermatologist suggested that losing weight and exercising can help with HS, but I struggle with the practical side of it.

Like sometimes even when a open flare starts to close, it seems to reopen when I'm stretching or doing certain movements because of the skin pulling or friction.

I've applied loads of desitin since that's the only thing helping me out with friction - bandages, it just comes off even if tightly secured given my main hs area is armpits.

Do you continue working out during flares or do you take breaks until wounds heal? Have you found certain types of strength training, cardio, clothing, bandages, or movement modifications that work better?

Sometimes even when I work out I get flares. So that's a trigger as well. For context I'm in India, I've had HS for past fifteen years and I still struggle with what works and what doesn't work. Diet wise I know my triggers and stay away from it, but how to stay away from losing muscle weight during dietary weight loss..

I'm curious how others balance this.... Like exercise with the reality of having painful or open HS wounds.