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New Choices in Natural Healing: Hernia

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Hernia

It’s another one of those manly things. No real man admits to being lost. No real man cries at the movies. And no matter how big the box, no matter how heavy the sofa, no real man asks for help on moving day.

Until he gets a hernia, that is.

A hernia occurs when a piece of your body slips through a wall of muscle and gets stuck. Men get hernias much more often than women do, and most of them are caused by heavy lifting. With these so-called inguinal hernias, a piece of intestine slides through the abdominal muscle into the groin or upper thigh area. See your doctor, since surgery is usually required to repair a hernia. The natural remedies in this chapter—in conjunction with medical care and used with your doctor’s approval—may help relieve the pain of a hernia or prevent its recurrence, according to some health professionals.

See Your Medical Doctor When...

You notice any bulge in your groin or upper thigh area.

Food Therapy

A hernia can result from an abdominal muscle wall that is protein-deficient, says Elson Haas, M.D., director of the Preventive Medical Center of Marin in San Rafael, California, and author of Staying Healthy with Nutrition. He suggests eating more low-fat sources of protein, which include chicken breast, tuna, skim milk and 1 percent cottage cheese. While this therapy won’t heal an existing condition, Dr. Haas says, it may help prevent future problems.

Reflexology

Work the groin, colon and adrenal gland reflex points on both feet, says St. Petersburg, Florida, reflexologist Dwight Byers, author of Better Health with Foot Reflexology. To help you locate these points, consult the foot reflex chart on page 592. For instructions on how to work the points, see “Your Reflexology Session” on page 110.

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