Transcription:
Hernia Symptoms, Causes and Treatment

Caitlin Whyte (Host): A hernia is an abnormal exit of tissue or an organ through the wall of the cavity in which it normally resides. To tell us more about how they happen and how we can treat them, is Dr. Ian Villanueva, an Advanced Laparoscopic GI Surgeon with WakeMed.

This is WakeMed Voices, a podcast brought to you by WakeMed Health and Hospitals in Raleigh, North Carolina. I'm your host, Caitlin Whyte. Doctor, let's start with the symptoms. How do we know if we have a hernia?

Ian Villanueva, MD, FACS, FASMBS (Guest): Hernias can cause pain in different locations in our body. The most common locations are usually near the belly button or in the groin area, or hernias can also happen in areas of surgical incisions. So, any pain at a surgical incision could be a sign of hernia.

Host: And what can cause a hernia?

Dr. Villanueva: There are multiple factors that can cause hernias. Some of it's related to family history, genetics plays a part. Some of it is related to tobacco use, tobacco users, their muscle layers, are a touch weaker related to the tobacco use compared to non tobacco users. Some of it is activity related for folks who do a lot of heavy, exertional lifting, pushing, pulling, or explosive movement type activities. That can be a risk factor for hernias as well.

Host: Are there any ways that we can prevent a hernia from happening?

Dr. Villanueva: Well, prevention of hernia, a lot of it depends on good body mechanics, especially there are risk factors that we can't modify. We can't modify our family history. For folks with the exertional activities, heavy lifting, pushing, pulling; learning how to do that in a way that loads are being beared by appropriate muscles, learning how to lift with your legs, and not your back, for example, all of those things are important. If you are a tobacco user, there are so many reasons why it's positive to give up tobacco. Hernia prevention it's probably one of those too.

Host: So when it comes to treatments, what is available to hernia patients?

Dr. Villanueva: Well, since hernia technically is a hole in your muscles, we don't have any medications to make any of that go away. So, for folks who are looking for relief from hernias, it usually involves some kind of surgical procedure.

Host: With that surgical procedure, what does recovery time look like?

Dr. Villanueva: For most hernias, you know, your, your recovery time can range anywhere between two and four weeks. I think a lot of it really depends on the type of surgery that we do to fix it, how big the hernia was. And what kind of physical activities do you do in your life. Whether that's professional or personal after surgery, that could be a risk factor to slow down healing.

Host: And wrapping up here, Doctor, can you tell us about the WakeMed Hernia Center? What does it offer?

Dr. Villanueva: So, the WakeMed Hernia Center is an exciting development within the past year where we're trying to really bring together experts from multiple fields to really treat the entirety of someone's hernia disease. So, getting ready for surgery, we have a multidisciplinary physical therapy program that takes patients through various activity changes, various stretches and exercises to prepare your abdominal wall for upcoming surgical procedures. The program also has a particular emphasis on lifestyle modification.

So, again, for our folks who are having trouble kicking the nicotine tobacco habit, they have resources that can help people get off tobacco products sooner, rather than later. From a surgical perspective, there are lots of different ways to fix lots of different hernias. We have specialists and experts within our group who can do anything from simple, small incision type hernias to larger abdominal wall reconstructions for folks with really complicated hernia disease. Laparoscopic surgery is always an option depending on the hernia. We also have the use of the DaVinci surgical robot for advanced laparoscopic hernia surgeries. That robot in particular, we use, it comes with a 3D camera, which is fantastic.

Anything that helps me see better, usually leads to better surgeries, safer outcomes, and the tools with the robotic instrument platform or mechanical so they can twist and turn and do things that normal laparoscopic incisions can't. And then after surgery, we have again, the same physical therapy program in place that the purpose is to number one, decrease pain during the recovery period, but also do some abdominal wall rehabilitation to strengthen certain muscles and hopefully decrease the chances of you getting a hernia again. So we're excited about all of that.

Host: Wonderful. Well Doctor. Is there anything else you'd like to add to this conversation on hernias?

Dr. Villanueva: I think, you know, my best advice for people who think they have a hernia is see your doctor sooner, rather than later. There's no need to suffer through any kind of pain or especially when the hernias becomes severe. Yeah, most people can see it as a bump or bulge, somewhere sticking out of them. There's no need to wait on any of those things. The reality about holes in walls, whether it's a hole in your, in your muscular abdominal wall or a hole on the wall in your house, is that whole either stays the same size or get bigger with time. It's always easier to fix a smaller hole compared to a bigger hole. So, if anyone's concerned about a hernia, has pain or bulges at any particular location, they should see their doctor nas soon as possible.

Host: Well, thank you for joining us today. We appreciate your time and all this information. To learn more about WakeMed Gastroenterology Services, visit wakemed.org. And thank you for listening. I'm Caitlin Whyte with WakeMed Voices brought to you by WakeMed Health and Hospitals in Raleigh, North Carolina.