Haital Hernia
Hernia occurs when one body part pushes its way into another body area where it does not belong anatomically. The diaphragm is dome shaped muscle, with its convexity towards the upper chamber. It divides the torso into two parts which are thorax or the upper part and abdomen or the lower chamber. Diaphragm is directly involved in the action of breathing as its contraction increases the size of the thorax and the air pressure within the thorax comes down and outer air rushes in through the nose into the lungs to take its place and the lungs inflate and thus inspiration takes place. Similarly upon relaxation of the diaphragm the size of the thorax comes down and the air within the lungs is pushed out into the atmosphere. Hence the diaphragm is in a state of almost constant movement. The organs like the esophagus pierce through the diaphragm and come into the abdomen to connect to the stomach. Here in some cases the stomach (an abdominal organ) pushes into the thorax through the opening in the diaphragm or the hiatus, hence the term hiatal hernia. read more....
Lifestyle Controls Hiatal Hernia
Certain bad habit like smoking which contributes to the occurrence of hiatal hernia can easily be taken care of by discontinuing the bad habit of smoking which will additionally help the passive smokers also to breathe free air. Another most important hazard which certainly is one of cause that leads to hernia is overweight. If you are overweight, it is of paramount importance that the weight is reduced at any cost. Certain people like to wear tight fitting clothes. The tight fitting garments and belts especially those which put stomach undue pressure to be avoided to reduce the chances of hernia. read more....
Dangerous and Hard to Detect
In hiatal hernia’s case, the first part is diaphragm and the second part is the stomach, rather its upper side. The normal position of the stomach is under the diaphragm. There is a small hole in the diaphragm through which esophagus passes. When the area around the hole gets weakened, a part of the stomach rolls through it to the chest cavity. There are two types of hiatal hernia, one is called sliding hernia and the other one is rolling hernia. In sliding hernia, the upper stomach slides through the openings of the diaphragm and remains between the stomach and the esophagus. In rolling hernia, stomach slides along the esophagus and not in between as the other type. There is no bulge in this hernia. In most cases there are no symptoms. But, in many cases heartburn and chest burning is noticed which is due to the acid in the stomach which refluxes backwards to the esophagus. People experience the symptoms after they eat hot spicy food and after lying down. read more....