Can someone explain hernias to me please?

[ravenia]

Before anyone tells me to Google it... I've tried! But I really need a for-dummies version as whenever I try to look it up I panic and get dizzy.

I had a hernia op aged around 5, have a pretty sizeable scar in my pubic area. As a kid, whenever I tried to do anything like a split, or carry/push anything, my parents would freak and tell me I'd get another one (in our country they use an expression which means "you'll split/unpick yourself" which sounds even more scary).

I have horrible memories of being held down to be examined, and I don't know what caused the hernia or anything. Just waking up with a bandage and everyone asking about it and being horribly embarrassed.

As an adult... what do I do to avoid causing one? Like, can I do squats/stretches/weights in an exercise class? And how would I know if I had one?

Thank you!

Hernias are very common in children. It's basically a small hole in the abdominal wall where bowel pops through.

Just because you had one on childhood you haven't any higher risk of getting one as an adult. You can do normal exercise as any one else would.

I'm sorry you had a traumatic experience, it's scary when no one explains things to you!

Thank you - that's just it, I don't understand what happened and why - plus my parents made it seem like something really shameful and like "you don't want that again do you?", so I start imagining stuff which is probably much worse. Dr Google doesn't help matters of course!

It's just something that happens. You didn't do anything wrong and your parents probably just didn't understand or were worried and handled it badly!