Ventral hernia?

Medical Q&A [Moderated]
1

Greetings, friends!

I am a soon-to-be 37yo male and am currently coming towards the end of The Bridge 1.0. I am 5’10”, 170lbs, and have a 34” waist.

I just acquired a 4”/10mm lifting belt from Best Belts and wore it for the first time this morning. Being that I have never worn a belt before, I was having trouble finding a position that didn’t cause discomfort while doing squats. Most positions seemed to cause too much pinching at the top of the pelvis (iliac crest?) at the bottom of my squat, so I tried moving the belt up higher.

At the bottom of my first rep with this higher belt position, I experienced a searing pinpoint burning sensation in my right-hand lower rectus abdominus. I racked the weight but continued with my squats after a brief rest trying to find the correct belt position. There is dull pain in the area during some sets with lower belt positioning with a lot of pinching discomfort, and I can replicate the intense burning pain if I move the belt back up higher. I didn’t retry no belt, so I cannot speak to that just yet.

Questions:

  1. Did I experience the tearing of a ventral hernia?
  2. What the heck should I do about belt positioning? Should I get a 3” belt? Should I abandon all hope and go back to my beltless ways?

Thank you for your time and consideration as well as all the wonderful things you do as far as putting out meaningful content, providing logical/rational guidance, and simply bringing some whimsy to this strength training community of ours.

2

  1. Probably not.

  2. This is a common issue with a brand new, stiff belt, and tends to improve as the belt gets broken in. At a height of 5’10" you probably don’t need to buy a 3" belt, though you could try one on if you know anyone who has one.

3

Thanks for the reply.

For further clarification, I can’t tell if there is a small telltale lump of a hernia, or if it is simply the texture of the muscle, but I feel something. I’d think it would be more apparent if it was the former. I had an umbilical hernia repaired a few years ago, and there was no question what was going on there.

What would you recommend if it perisists? Continue training and feel it out? Go see a doctor? Have a coke and a smile?

4

Depends how persistent we’re talking. If it’s lasting a couple weeks, I’d get it checked out.