Hiatal Hernia

The Hiatal Hernia is sometimes called a Diaphragmatic Hernia. What happens when this type of hernia occurs is that the uppermost portion of the stomach gets trapped above the diaphragm. The most common location for this to happen is at the esophageal hiatus. This is the main topic of this blog post.

Types of Hiatal Hernias

The three main types of esophageal hiatal hernias are:

1. The sliding hernia
2. The paraesophageal hernia
3. The congenitally short hiatal hernia

The majority of hiatal hernias are the sliding type. This type of hernia comes and goes. The gastroesophageal junction slides into the thoracic area — this means that it slides up. To repeat, part of the stomach ends up above the diaphragm where it is not supposed to be.

Many researchers deny the existence of the congenitally short esophagus. This is partly because it is so rare.

Symptoms and Diagnosis

Sometimes the hiatal hernia is referred to as “the great mimic” because of the many symptoms it can create that often lead diagnosis astray. The symptomatic picture can relate to apparent digestive disturbances, heart problems, and shoulder, neck, jaw pain as well as difficulties with swallowing and hiccups. When considering the hiatal hernia, it is a good idea to look at an anatomy textbook or discuss the matter with a doctor who is familiar with the anatomy.

The digestive disturbances that come from a hiatal hernia may mimic gallbladder or stomach disease, and there may be regurgitation and belching. There is often regurgitation of irritating gastric contents that may cause burning of the sternal area. This pain can then radiate down the back, neck, jaw, ear, palate, shoulders, or arms. Sometimes people refer to this as “dyspepsia” or they might call it “acid reflux.” These terms could be used synonymously.

Symptoms of hiatal hernia are often created or intensified by a large meal. As a result, “food fear” may be noted in the patient. Sometimes patients will lose weight because of this. One thing that can really irritate the hiatal hernia condition is eating a large meal and then going to lie down right afterwards. This may cause the weight of the meal in the stomach to push the top of the stomach up through the opening where the esophagus travels to the top of the stomach. Gravity may cause this to happen.

Related Anatomical Structures

If the psoas muscles dysfunction and cause something called “reciprocal muscle inhibition” with the diaphragm, then you end up with dysfunctional psoas muscles due to diaphragmatic dysfunction or dysfunctional diaphragmatic function due to improperly functioning psoas muscles. When this happens, both psoas muscles and the diaphragm need to be considered when the correction is made. The diaphragm is related to several different vertebrae: C3, T3, L3, T8. The nervous supply to the diaphragm known to exist from basic anatomy is spinal nerves C3, C4, and C5. There are multiple inter-relationships as stated earlier.

Structures Protruding Through the Diaphragm

1. 1. The arch of the aorta (heart) – responsible for bringing blood to a very large portion of the body.
   2. Esophagus – responsible for bringing food to the stomach
   3. Inferior Vena Cava – blood supply return to the heart. This is used blood that has already been deoxygenated. This is the main venous return to the heart.

Function of the Diaphragm

One of the main functions of the diaphragm is to aid the lungs in bringing air in and out of the lungs. The diaphragm pumps energy through the body. It is largely responsible for healthy lung function. The diaphragm and the psoas muscles (which are related to the kidneys) have a tendon in common that they attach to. This tendon is called the “crux.”

Holistic Approach to Treatment

When we begin the treatment of our Hiatal Hernia patient, we need to consider a series of things all at once:

1. Diet
2. Allergies
3. Parasites
4. Emotions
5. Fungus / Mold / Yeast / Candida
6. Lifestyle changes
7. Water intake
8. Blood Sugar
9. Ileo Cecal Valve
10. Valves Of Houston
11. Cardiac Spasm and Sphincter
12. Pyloric Sphincter
13. Sphincter of Oddi
14. Protein digestion
15. Any infections in the digestive tract
16. Digestion as a whole
17. Immune function as a whole
18. Whether or not Barrett’s Esophagus is present and if it is, then the cause of the condition will be addressed
19. pH
20. Zinc and other nutritional deficiencies such as iodine, B-Vitamins, Calcium, Magnesium, Chromium, and other minerals
21. Inflammation
22. Bones of the upper cervical vertebrae
23. The Sacrum, Coccyx, sphenoid, jaw, muscles of mastication, and cranial bones

This comprehensive approach takes into account the interconnectedness of the body’s systems and aims to address the root causes of hiatal hernia, rather than just treating the symptoms.