Exercise for hiatus hernia?

Chris144mph

Hello everyone
I have a sliding hiatus hernia & costochondritis.
I have been told by gp that my upper body needs strengthening but has not indicated how to do this without aggravating the costochondritis or the hernia.
Does anyone have any tips?
Thanks all in advance.

Cherimoose

Lucky you - you've got 2 issues that can mimic a heart attack. Can you see a physiotherapist? They would give you a customized plan.

Do you know why you got the costochondritis? How long have you had it?

Chris144mph

Oops thought my reply posted but apparently not!

I don't know what caused the costochondritis, it was only diagnosed after I had been taken to A&E 4 times thinking I was having a heart attack. Each time they would test for heart attack then send me home with painkillers as the tests came back clear.
One Dr there however did actually do a physical examination & tfound that I had gaps around my sternum where there should have been cartilage. He would press these areas & I would scream in pain!
He told me that I would have to strengthen the muscles to compensate.
However as the pain continued I was sent for endoscopy & the hernia was found. (I wasn't told the size)
I've now been put back on ppi's & told not to lift or any exercise that puts pressure on the chest/abdomen.
This has been since August.
My gp won't send me for physio as "NHS states 6 sessions only & you had those after hydrodilation of your should last year" (I had frozen shoulder,-adhesive capsulitis-& was found to also have mild arthritis in shoulder)
I' also have inscissional hernia at hysterectomy site due to be repaired & am trying to lose more weight to be as healthy as I can I have lost 2 stone but have another 2st to go to reach my healthy bmi.
I know I need to exercise but what can I do safely? My gp said to look on the Internet.

Sorry for rambling. Thanks for "listening".

Cherimoose

One promising treatment for costochondritis involves loosening up the back where the ribs join the spine, because if they're tight back there, it can cause compensation up front near the sternum, causing costochondritis. Some good stretches for that are here: https://youtube.com/watch?v=W9PWTLOQf3w. Instead of lying on the plastic device they show, try a softball wrapped in a towel. To make it easier to do their stretches, i recommend first doing this stretch, and then laying on your back on an exercise ball, like this.

I would do all of them several times a day, not just once. Don't expect immediate improvement - cartilage heals slowly.

Chris144mph wrote: »

One Dr there however did actually do a physical examination & tfound that I had gaps around my sternum where there should have been cartilage.

Gaps aren't a common symptom of costochondritis, so you may also have something else going on there too, maybe a mild case of pectus excavatum, which is a congenital deformity. Until you get the gap properly diagnosed by an orthopedist, i'd question the advice to "strengthen the muscles to compensate", which is very strange. You can certainly try strength training, but i'd follow a standard, full-body program, without modifying it to target your chest extra, which may make the costochondritis worse. Try the strength program linked in my profile - just use VERY light resistance. Skip the ab exercise until you get the incisional hernia fixed. Same with other ab exercises.

For cardio, you'll just have to experiment to see what you can do. Belly breathing instead of chest breathing should be less painful. Fortunately weight loss doesn't require exercise, just a calorie deficit.

Post an update at some point.

Chris144mph

Third time lucky posting I hope... My replies don't seem to be registering

Thanks for the link to YouTube stretches I've been trying to keep my stretches going since my frozen shoulder but a year later they are still only 50% where they should be... Sorry I couldn't find a link from your profile...
Got meeting with consultant for inscissional hernia repair in a few weeks so I'll double check with him about other exercises before I try to do anything other than stretches as I was thinking of using resistance bands. I guess I'm just scared of the costo fairing up again.