{"id":333198,"date":"2026-07-08T15:18:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T15:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/333198\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T15:18:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T15:18:11","slug":"millions-of-people-have-hernias-but-most-never-see-a-doctor-why-experts-say-that-needs-to-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/333198\/","title":{"rendered":"Millions of people have hernias, but most never see a doctor. Why experts say that needs to change"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 More than 5 million Americans deal with hernias every year, but only 15% ever seek help from a medical professional, according to the National Center for Health Statistics<\/a>. One Florida surgeon says that gap needs to close.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot all of these need surgery, but all hernias need to be evaluated, in my opinion, by a specialist,\u201d said Dr. Hussain Abbass, a bariatric and general surgeon with HCA Florida Memorial Hospital<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hernias are weaknesses in the abdominal wall. They come in many forms, but some of the most common are umbilical, inguinal and femoral hernias.<\/p>\n

Men are more likely to develop hernias overall. In fact, 1 in 4 men will develop an inguinal hernia \u2014 a condition where part of the bowel pushes into the inguinal canal.<\/p>\n

Women face a different risk. While they develop inguinal hernias less often, Abbass says they are more prone to a type that requires faster attention.<\/p>\n

He is referring to femoral hernias, where tissue or intestine pushes through muscles into the femoral canal, according to Cleveland Clinic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Abbass says hernias are usually caused by a combination of factors \u2014 not just one big lift at the gym.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually, it\u2019s a combination. It\u2019s genetically – you must be prone to just having a little bit of weaker tissue,\u201d he said. \u201cGenerally, what I see in hernias is not necessarily the heavy lifting. It\u2019s heavy lifting and the awkward stretching.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abbass says many of his patients put off getting checked out for years. Life gets busy. Time slips by, but he warns that waiting comes with a real downside.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem with hernias \u2014 they cannot fix themselves because it\u2019s an anatomical defect. It\u2019s a hole,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A specialist can walk patients through all available treatment options. Two common paths include:<\/p>\n

Robotic surgery \u2014 Dr. Abbass says this approach carries a high success rate and a smoother recovery. Most patients go home the same day and return to full activity within two to four weeks.<\/p>\n

Watchful waiting \u2014 In some cases, it is safe to monitor a hernia over time to see if it worsens before taking more serious action.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not as scary as it used to be in the past, and recovery is very fast,\u201d Abbass said. \u201cThe vast majority of patients go home that same day, and they\u2019re back to full activity within two to four weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 More than 5 million Americans deal with hernias every year, but only 15% ever seek…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333199,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2006,1039,10114,571,61569,137463,116,118,117,5436],"class_list":["post-333198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-doctor","tag-duval-county","tag-hca-florida-memorial-hospital","tag-health","tag-healthier-tomorrow","tag-hernia","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-morning-show"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}