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I am needing surgery to repair a hiatal hernia and relieve me from acid reflux pain and it will affect my diaphragm, hence maybe my breathing. I was wondering if any of you out there have ever had this and what kind of playing recovery I might expect. I have heard some good and some bad about the success of this laproscopic procedure, but nothing from a wind player about possible impact on my diaphragm. Any experiences?

I know someone who had hernia surgery years ago, not sure what type. I will see him Sunday and ask, try to get information for you.

Adam

I had a very large diaphragmatic hernia about six inches in diameter. Much, much bigger and more severe than what you are dealing with and rather rare. Probably a weight lifting injury. The surgeon who dealt with mine was evidently not that familiar with these repairs and there was an immediate failure of the surgery and a reoccurrence eight months later. Because of the severity of the repair, I do think I lost some lung capacity, as my diaphragm is higher on the left side now, and I think it should actually be lower normally.

HOWEVER, none of this applies to you and the relatively minor procedure you're having shouldn't interfere with playing once you are healed. I would just heed doctor's advice about waiting to play. The repair they do should prevent a reoccurrence in most cases, although I haven't looked up the figures on reoccurrence for this.

Although I had some pop up hernias in the abdomen in the incision, which was extensive, neither the repair nor these pop up hernias have interfered with my tuba playing, which admittedly is sporadic. I even play the trumpet, which requires a lot higher air pressure, sometimes.

I'm sure you can ask your doctor about reoccurrence figures for the surgery and find articles about it on line. I would just follow doctor's orders about waiting to play and not play after the surgery if there is any pain. Since the tuba is about air volume at low pressure whereas the trumpet is high pressure and low volume, I don't think your playing is going to put you at risk. Of course, if you go crazy way up high, it is possible you could incur some risk, but not that much if the repair is done right and you are not grossly overweight.

I don't have data on this, but I think being very overweight contributes to some hernias. It is definitely true that weight contributes to reoccurrences, as medical articles illustrate. Just make sure you are breathing correctly and not doing something to stress your diaphragm and I think you will be fine.

I have a theory that hiatal hernias are in part caused by the extreme deep breathing and all the diaphram stretching exercises I did when i was younger I also have Gerd although it is not too bad and I can control it with diet and not eating at night etc....

k

I've had 2 surgeries. Problems with blowing: none. Problems with sit ups: yes.

You'll be fine.