In order to understand the Löhde Operation, you have to get away from looking at individual organs and their function. Our research has shown that we have a fascinating functional interplay of key organs deep behind the sternum. Like in the transmission of a car or a clock, the individual wheels interlock day and night and ensure our lives.
There is never peace or relaxation in this “human engine room.” Every second, it is pumped, pulled, pressed, reduced pressure generated and converted into positive pressure, blood is sucked up from the lower half of the body, compressed in the heart, the lungs are pulled down and stretched, the smallest vessels are moved back and forth in the alternation of pressure peaks, molecules are sucked out of the cells, brought in others and much more.
We call this system in the body Core engine. This is the engine within us that drives everything with the constant heartbeat and uninterrupted breathing movement and keeps us alive. The diaphragm is of central importance. It is the most important organ of order in humans and ensures the stable arrangement of all components involved: heart, lungs, liver, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, spleen, aorta, the large veins, vagus nerve, other nerves and lymphatic pathways, and others.
The diaphragm ascribes to them a precisely defined position in this gear train. This function is particularly important in reflux disease. These many interlocking functions form a large whole with an infinite number of coordinated and interlocking body functions. The diaphragm works tirelessly and maintains order in the body. It is linked to the brain, vagus nerve and messenger substances in the blood via the nerve networks on an emotional level and, as may have been rightly assumed in ancient times, is very close to the seat of the soul.
While the diaphragm, among other things, ensures perfect order in the body, our heart takes over the actual drive of Core engine. The heart is the decisive motor in this highly interesting set of nerve networks and complexly connected organs. Our research has shown that the heart is the key to reflux control!
The esophagus is closely connected to the left ventricle. Why The data shows that the heart works like a bifunctional pump. With every heartbeat, it pumps blood up into the circulatory system and relies on the esophagus for this pressure movement. This support movement in turn generates downward compression and pumping movement, so that everything in the esophagus is emptied into the stomach in a targeted manner with 1-2 heartbeats.
What does that have to do with reflux? Our data showed that the esophagus in humans is always open to the stomach. This is vital so that we can drink and eat without having to wait seconds or minutes for a sphincter, for example, to be opened. But such an open system means constant backflow! And in fact, everyone has a certain amount of short-term reflux. But the heart also solves the problem: With a pumping capacity of more than 100,000 heartbeats per day, any form of reflux in this system is prevented and effectively protects us from rising gastric juices. There is therefore a kind of countercurrent principle that makes it impossible for substances to come up from the stomach. It is fascinating how the many requirements in this area are met and our heart, the nuclear engine of Core engine, energy-free and bifunctional to secure all these vital functions.
But this is exactly the problem with a diaphragmatic hernia, because here in the hiatus, where there is an extra hole to let the esophagus through, there is a weak spot! The two crura muscles are very vulnerable. Every day, they are pulled, pulled and pushed while coughing, squeezing and breathing. With certain constellations of muscle angle, genetic structure, strength and direction of the crura, growth processes or exceptional loads, it can happen that the muscles break apart piece by piece. The hole widens and the esophagus can no longer move from the diaphragm to the important position in the gears of Core engine be held. It slips out of the pressure zone of the heart.
The occurrence of malfunctions in the system is now foreseeable, just like in a clockwork. In particular, the rise of acid from the stomach can no longer be stopped by the pumping heart. The esophagus is too far away. It causes reflux. It was precisely this deep internal shift that we were able to detect in reflux patients.
What do these findings mean? On the one hand, if there is a malfunction in the system, we must not simply “blame” an organ for it and say: The esophagus can't close, we make it tighter!“On the other hand, this knowledge opens up a completely different path to healing: When you return the organs regularly to the Core engine Put it together, will the system work again with all its functions? Today we know yes! And we have the Löhde operation for it developed.
It seems so harmless. But imagine if the transmission axle of your car would shift by a few cm! The car would have to be towed away. Please also pay attention to His's angle in our blog (expertise for patients: The mystery of His's angle), how it tends to taper when everything is arranged correctly, and how it opens slowly when the stomach slides upwards. The angle is therefore exclusively a function of the spatial arrangement, not a characteristic of the ability to close! If you put the organs back down correctly, His's angle is the same as always.
