Drs. Lou and Laurie Briegel, with over 40 years of expertise in working with patients as Doctors of Chiropractic, have chosen to have an open forum with our community to answer questions concerning their field of Chiropractic and what people would like to know about it. If you have a question for the doctors, please contact them via email, wcc@myHealthLink.net. They will do their best to answer all questions either directly or your question may be chosen for publication in a future issue.
Q) I have acid reflux, pain in my solar plexus, and have been told I have a hiatal hernia. Can chiropractic care help?
A) If there is any interference in that part of the body, it can become stressed and not function as efficiently as it should. Thus, if there is interference in the communication between the brain and that part of the body, chiropractic can help by reducing that interference.
You unknowingly can be the cause of other sources of interference. Let us consider a few of our cultural habits that can cause interference thus leading to hiatal hernia symptoms.
First, what is a hiatal hernia? The esophagus travels through a hole in the diaphragm and enters the stomach. Sometimes, a part of the stomach attached to the esophagus can be pushed up above the diaphragm causing associated symptoms such as pain or acid reflux.
Culturally, we tend to be in a flexed or forward leaning posture. This can be due to cell phone scrolling, slouching when we sit, leaning forward while we eat, etc. Our society has a unique ability to walk upright on two legs. Unfortunately, our culture tends not to be very erect in our posturing.
Along with posturing, our body build can affect these negative symptoms as well. The more weight you carry in your midsection, along with this forward leaning posture, some food in the stomach can be pushed up above the diaphragm and become trapped. Intense coughing, or sneezing, while eating or on a full stomach, regardless of your build, can initiate the same situation.
An individual suffering from these symptoms is quite possibly suffering from the above-described hiatal hernia condition. When asked about their eating habits, I often hear what I refer to as a “shovel and swallow” method. If you consider the possibility of the top portion of the stomach being above the diaphragm, the larger pieces of food can be more easily trapped therefore triggering the symptoms.
Help yourself by intentionally becoming more erect, chewing your food, don’t slouch while watching tv or anything else after eating and have your chiropractor check your spine for any mis-aligned vertebra that could be interfering with proper communication with that part of your body.
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