June is Hernia Awareness Month. A hernia occurs when one part of the body protrudes through the muscle or wall of another part of the body that is supposed to contain it or hold it in place. Many people who suffer from hernias don't even know they have them. Others will experience sharp pain. Some hernias are life-threatening, while others may be with you your whole life without incident. Perhaps the best known hernia type occurs when part of the intestine or some body fat pokes through a hole in the muscles of the lower abdomen. This is just one of many types of hernias, however.
In addition to abdominal hernias, there are femoral hernias (upper thigh near the groin), umbilical hernias (intestine poking through the belly button area), diaphragmatic hernia (one of your abdominal organs moves upward into your chest because of a weakness in the diaphragm), hiatial hernia (like the diaphragmatic hernia, but the stomach pushes up through a space in the diaphragm called the hiatus), inguinal hernia (in the groin area), lumbar hernia (intestines or abdominal organs …show more content…
Typically, these hernias are the result of overexertion, poor lifting posture, or lifestyle choices such as smoking which weaken the muscle tissue. The most common senior hernias are also the most common for all age groups other than infants, the abdominal and inguinal hernia. In fact, the vast majority of inguinal hernias occur in males over 40. For seniors, this occurs because the abdominal wall has been weakened through life from illness, surgery, childbirth, smoking, or obesity. The more of these factors that come into play, the greater the chance of experiencing an abdominal hernia. The femoral hernia is much more common in older women, but can occur in men. They are typically the result of muscles initially weakened from pregnancy and