How are sliding (paraesophageal) hernia symptoms treated?

Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but I think that the current traditional way of addressing a hiatal hernia is surgery. If that is the case your doctor may not think the hernia bad enough for that step.

The NIH had a paper on doing the bridge exercise to address GERD: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36311470/. There is also an approved device in Europe used to strengthen muscles and keep GERD at bay. It's called Iqoro. It's not FDA approved and not available in the US. I bought a mouthguard with a strap as a cheap way to see if the Iqoro claim of neuromuscular training would work. Since it can take up to six months to work, according to the manufacturer, and I just started using my knockoff, I can't say whether it's an answer. The mouthguard cost me about 12 bucks if you want to try it. The Iqoro web site gives instructions on how to do the exercise.

Bon jour, Baguette!

To clarify: Is the "bridge" pose when you lie on your back on the floor, with feet flat and knees bent, and then you raise your pelvis up towards the ceiling, resting your weight on feet and upper back/shoulders?

I used your link to NIH. Sounds like the exercise works well!

Thanks!

@debra54

They usually treat the sliding (paraesophageal) hernia symptoms with medications and diet. Breathing exercises help… exercise in general helps. When it becomes larger the hernia tends to pull the stomach into the chest .. sometimes it also pulls up part of the intestines. Then they suggest surgical treatment .. usually a Nissen Fundoplication. This surgery quite often fails and needs repair. My hernia had to eventually be repaired by gastric bypass surgery .. which is why the surgery was created .. the side effect is weight loss. You can find more information by searching “paraesophageal hernia”.

So I Google exercises for hiatel hernia and after doing some research, I found videos on breathing and stretching exercises and right away it helped. Thank you so much for the idea. Wonder why my dr didn't recommend this but maybe now I can avoid a surgery.

Yes! That is a good description of the bridge exercise.

P

I'm from Sweden so I purchased the Iqoro about a year ago when I was there. At the start I filled in some information in the booklet that came with the product. One exercise was to fill a glass with 1 dl (about half a cup) of water and time how long it takes to drink it. I wrote down 15 sec. Now a year later it takes me 10 sec. So, I conclude it's working and my swallowing is getting better.