omg, I do not BELIEVE I'm this far behind...but I am and I apologize.  (I just clicked your post list to reread the other responses...good HEAVENS woman, how DO you post so many posts?)

Anyway - rebounding, the "drink water n' jump", the "massage manipulation"...all may work (and hopefully they'll actually create a true healing).  But pushing a hernia back in doesn't usually do the trick (because the next time there's strain/pressure, it just pops back through).

Addressing the cause: weakened diaphragm with too much "upward pressure".  One bm a day (when three meals a day are ingested), means there are (basically) 5 "meals worth" of putrefying food in the convoluted tubing of the intestinal tract consistently. It gives off lots of gas and that gas has nowhere to go but up or down - with rotting food on either side of the gas - the gas pushes through wherever it can (and sometimes there's a LOT of gas pressure going through very small openings).  So there's constant gas pressure going up where there should be none (he likely knows that instinctively - where are all the belches coming from? Not likely from fresh food that's only been in his stomach an hour or two). 

He likely seriously needs to do a very thorough colon cleanse (30 days, IF#1 & IF#2) - but if he won't 'go there', then try to at least eliminate the 'upward pressure' by ensuring 3 bms a day with the IF#1 (or LBB).  ACV is great for enhancing digestion & stomach acid - a tablespoon before every meal would be very helpful.  And of course, any 'liver protocol' to get the bile flowing & increase peristalsis & aid digestion.  Mucous forming meat & dairy are 'out of the question', as well as all types of finely milled flour (bread, pasta, etc., whole grain or white).  And work on strengthening & healing the diaphragm (and other weakened intestinal muscles).

Included on a Dr. Christopher CD I have: (yeah, Kellogg's an "oldie", but he's a goodie when it comes to this.  And of course, I'm sure you already know all this, but sometimes people will respond to "old MDs" --that actually HEALED people instead of just writing out 'scripts-- when they won't respond to "quack alternative healers & herbalists".  So I'm pasting it in case you want to share it).  Here's my other two favorite "colon links" (first is Schulze newsletter, second is Tim O'Shea 'Journey to the Center of Your Colon')

Dr Schulze 2001 Bowel Newsletter

http://www.thedoctorwithin.com/colon/Journey-to-the-Center-of-Your-Colon.shtml

Following are quotes from the book Colon Hygiene by John Harvey Kellogg, M.D.:

Exercise.
    Bodily activity is another way of mechanically stimulating the intestine. Vigorous exercise sets the diaphragm and abdominal muscles at work in such a way that the intestines are, between the two, vigorously kneaded and squeezed and thus stimulated to action.

    Every farmer knows the constipation effect of idleness upon his horses and cattle.  Most observing persons have noted in their own experience the advantage of taking a brisk walk before or after breakfast.
    The sedentary man or woman not only loses the immediate effect which results from the increased activity of the diaphragm and abdominal muscles, but his abdominal muscles become permanently weakened, relaxed, lacking in tone, and incapable of supporting the intestines in their proper place, thus adding a number of other factors which contribute very materially to the lessening of intestinal activity.

Posture.
    A stooped or relaxed posture in sitting or standing tends strongly to induce constipation by weakening the abdominal muscles and causing congestion of the liver and all other abdominal organs.  The viscera, over-filled with blood, and lacking the support of the abdominal muscles, become prolapsed.  The colon falls with the rest; the intestinal contents stagnate; the bowel becomes distended; the ileocecal valve becomes incompetent, infection travels up the small intestine, and a long list of ills result.
    An erect posture secures proper exercise of the muscles of the trunk, correct breathing, normal circulation of the blood in the viscera, and promotes in a high degree normal bowel movement.
    A further cause of injury is the lowering of the diaphragm and diminished action of this important muscle, which when normally active applies to the colon and other viscera a sort of rhythmic massage which is a valuable aid to bowel action.
   Influences which lessen intestinal movements.

Influences which lessen intestinal movements.
    There are certain foods and other agents and  influences that  exercise  a  decided  slowing  influence  upon intestinal movements, either directly, or indirectly through the suppression of the normal stimuli. 
Page 136
Liquid foods.
    Such foods as soups, gruels, porridges, and purees contain so little solid matter that the bulk, considerable though it may be when the food is eaten, is soon reduced to a very small volume.  On this account liquid foods are almost always constipating.  The only exceptions are those liquid foods which contain much sugar, acids, or fats.
    Pasty cereals such as oatmeal mush, are decidedly constipating in their influence, because of their pasty consistency and the little mastication which they receive.  New bread, hot biscuits, "noodles," and doughy foods of all sorts are likewise objectionable ...
    Fruit juices of all sorts are most suitable for almost all forms of sickness.  They contain choice nutriment in form needing no digestion, ready for immediate absorption and assimilation.
    Orange juice or freshly pressed juice of apples, grapes, or other sweet or sub-acid fruit, is ideal nourishment for the sick.  In the absence of these fruits, dried fruit, soaked long in water may furnish a very fair substitute.

Colon disease.
    It is probable that more diseases, premature old age and death, misery and even crime, originate from constipation that from any other bodily disorder.  Constipation is not in itself a disease, but is a symptom, the cause of which may be disease or simply neglect.
    There are several very prevalent errors respecting the colon and its functions which are probably responsible for most of the mischief which arises from disorders of this part of the body.
    One of the most universal and mischievous of errors about the humble colon is that its function is one which modesty imperatively demands shall be concealed even at the expense of great suffering.  It is indeed only in very recent times that public transportation companies, railroad and trolley lines, have begun to make anything like  decent  or  adequate  provision  for  the  colon needs of their patrons.  And even at the present time there are hundreds of small stations and waiting rooms wholly unsupplied with toilet conveniences.

Very few of our cities and towns offer any sort of public toilet provisions for either men or women.
    Thousands of factories and other places where men or women are employed provide no adequate toilet arrangements.
    It is a most dangerous error to suppose that the colon function can be neglected or postponed with impunity.  Many people, perhaps the majority,  regard the moving of the bowels as a disagreeable duty which may be postponed to suit the demands of business or convenience.
    The results are most disastrous.  The majority of chronic human ills are the result of this neglect.
    Another common error which is held by most medical men as well as by the laity is that the stool should be "formed."  This is a false notion which has grown out of the universal constipation habit which prevails among civilized folk.
    The vegetarian Hindus, of Armistar, who live chiefly on ground wheat and vegetables, according to Dr. A. H. Browne, have "large, bulky, and not formed, but pultaceous" stools.
    A well-formed stool always means constipation.  The significance is that the colon is packed full like a sausage and that the fecal matters have been so long retained that they have been compacted by the absorption of water.  The whole colon is filled, and the bowel movement is the result of the pressure of the incoming food residues at the other end. When the body wastes are promptly discharged as they should be, the colon never contains the residues of more than two meals and at the after-breakfast movement should be completely emptied so that the disinfecting and lubricating mucus which its walls secrete may have the opportunity to cleanse and disinfect the body's garbage receptacle and thus keep it in a sanitary condition.

    The California doctor who advised his patient to restrain his desire for bowel movement at night and "save it till the next morning" so that "he might have a well-formed stool," had not the first conception of the normal function of the colon.
    That one bowel movement a day is normal and efficient evacuation of the bowels is another error which is universally entertained.  One bowel movement a day is a positive indication of constipation.  X-ray examinations of the colon after a test meal shown that in persons whose bowels move once a day the body wastes are usually retained for fifty hours or more.  Hurst, of London, and not a few other authorities finding this condition almost universal have been led to regard it as normal.  But in this they are certainly in error.
    X-ray examinations show that in eight hours from the beginning of a meal the process of digestion has been completed, the digested food has been absorbed, and the unusable residue has been pushed half way through the colon, in other words, is within two and a half feet of the lower opening of the colon.  In eight hours the food has travelled more than twenty-five feet or ten times the distance which remains to be travelled.
    The work of digestion is finished, the useful part of the food has been absorbed, there remains nothing to be done but to dispose of the indigestible and useless residue by pushing it along two or three feet further.  Certainly no good reason can be assigned for the further retention of the waste matters.  It is indeed highly absurd to suppose that forty hours are needed to transport the feces two and a half feet when they have already travelled twenty-five feet in eight hours.
    The bowels should move at least three times a day or after each meal.  Four movements daily is a still better rhythm and is easily established by a biologic regimen.  This the writer has proven not in a few exceptional cases but in thousands of patients who have been willing to take the trouble to train their bowels by means of a proper diet and other simple and natural means ....

Putrefaction.
    The  carmine  capsule test shows that in most cases in which the bowels move once daily, the waste disposal function is always several days in arears.
Page 139
The colon contains the waste and residues of several meals--anywhere from five to twenty or even more, so that there is ample opportunity for the putrefactive process to get well under way.
    The putrefaction is the source of the foul odor and gases which originate in the colon, and which are not only most offensive to the sense of smell, but as is well known, are also highly poisonous, and may give rise to nausea, "biliousness," loss of appetite, foul tongue, bad breath, dingy skin, headache, Bright's disease, and a host of other grave disorders.

Hasty eating.
    Insufficient mastication is a fault peculiar to civilized men.  The savage, as well as the monkey and all lower animals that are provided with teeth for grinding food, masticates his food with the greatest thoroughness.  A skull in the writer's possession shows the teeth of an ancient mound builder, a Malkelkos Indian.  The well-worn appearance of the teeth affords sufficient evidence of the thoroughness with which they were used to grinding the nuts and cereal foods eaten by aborigines.

Meat eating.
    Carnivorous animals have a short alimentary canal and a smooth colon.  The movement of foodstuffs along this short, smooth passage is rapid.  This is necessary for the preservation of the life of the animal, as undigested remnants of meat long retained in the body necessarily undergo putrefactive changes with the production of ptomaines and poisons of a dangerous character.  The digestion of meat leaves little residue, hence a person who lives chiefly on meat suffers from constipation, a condition which evokes the putrefaction of undigested food remnants, and this, by creating an alkaline condition of the intestines, paralyzes the bowel and further increases the constipation.
    Meat also causes constipation through the fact that it encourages putrefaction of the colon both by introducing putrefactive organisms in great numbers and also by providing material which is best calculated to encourage the growth of putrefactive organisms in the colon.   Through  the putrefaction of undigested remnants of the meat eaten, ammonia and other alkaline substances are formed which paralyze the bowel.
    The infection of the bowel which results from meat-eating also gives rise to colitis and causes a spastic or contracted condition of the descending colon, a condition found in the most obstinate forms of constipation

Insufficient fluid.
    Most persons who suffer from constipation habitually drink too little water.  Women drink less than men.  It is difficult to account for this scanty use of a necessary of life, which costs little and is of such inestimable value to the body.  Water is far more immediately necessary for the support of life than is food.  A man may live six weeks or two months without tasting food in any form, but 10 days at the most is the limit of human life without water.  The consequence of a scanty use of water is abnormal dryness of the feces, which delays their passage through the lower colon, and often causes an actual stoppage in the pelvic colon or the rectum.
    Persons who sweat much, either as the result of hot weather, vigorous exercise, or hot baths, are likely to suffer from constipation, unless special care is taken to supply the body with water sufficient to make good the loss.  The skin ordinarily throws off as perspiration an ounce and a half of water each hour, or more than a quart in twenty-four hours.  By active exercise or sweating baths this amount may be increased to thirty or forty ounces in an hour.  The kidneys excrete two to three pints daily.  It is evident, then, that care must be exercised to replace the water that is lost through the skin and kidneys.
    In diabetes there is a great loss of water through the kidneys.  This, also, must be made up by drinking.  If  these losses are not made good, the thirsty tissues will absorb as much water as possible from the feces, thus causing hardening and retention in the lower bowels.

    Scanty and highly colored urine is an evidence that the tissues are in need of water.  Dryness of the skin often testifies to the same need.
    Water should be taken in proper quantity irrespective of thirst. It may be made palatable by the addition of fresh fruit juices.
    For the average person a good plan is to take a couple of glasses of water on rising, and the same amount before retiring at night.  A glassful should be taken half an hour before dinner and supper, and an equal amount two hours after eating.  The free use of oranges or orange juice, and of other juicy fruits, serves the same purpose as water drinking, to the extent of the liquid which they supply.
    Persons suffering from obesity or diabetes are sometimes restricted in the drinking of water, with the result that constipation is produced, if this condition does not already exist.  This should never be done.
    In all cases in which there is a tendency to dryness of the stools, water should be taken in increased quantity.  It is important is such cases, also, to diminish the amount of salt eaten.  The addition of salt to the food creates thirst for water to dissolve it and to aid in its elimination through the skin and the kidneys.
    Children, as well as adults, need much more water than they are usually given.  Meat eaters and those who use salt freely require a much larger amount of water than do those who adhere to a low protein dietary and who use little salt.

Exercise. 
    The excellent effects that walking has upon bowel activity are well known.  Riding is also of great advantage is the same way.  These exercises, as well as many others, mechanically stimulate the colon as well as all parts of the intestinal tract, by communicating to it a continued series of slight shocks, by which reflex movements are excited.  The active play of children is as necessary to maintain proper bowel action as for muscular development.

The movements of skipping, hopping, jumping are especially useful because they induce sudden vigorous contractions of the abdominal muscles and vigorous diaphragm movements by which the colon is compressed and stimulated.  The folk dancing of the Middle Ages, which has been revived in recent years, is for the above reasons to be highly commended as a health measure.  It is important, however, to make a clear distinction between the varied and vigorous movements of the folk dance, in simple dress and under wholesome conditions, and the monotonous and restrained movements of the social dance, in full dress and under conditions always physically, and not infrequently morally, unwholesome.
    Those whose occupations are such as to give them plenty of exercise are fortunate is being able to lead lives which in large measure conform to natural requirements.  Such persons never need suffer from constipation if they eat proper food, drink an abundance of water--at least three to five pints daily (lol, make that quarts if not drinking lots of juices)--and take care to give the bowels and opportunity for movement after each meal, and promptly whenever there is a "call" for evacuation.
    Those who are compelled to lead sedentary lives, and especially women, whose lives are nearly always more or less sedentary in character, must take daily and regular exercise of a sort calculated to benefit the bowels if they would escape the evils of constipation and its secondary results ....

Exercises which combat constipation:
    The exercises that are of the greatest value in cases of constipation are those which bring into strong action the muscles of the abdomen.  The abdominal muscles are generally weak and relaxed, and the intra-abdominal pressure is consequently low.
    By appropriate exercises the weak muscles may be strengthened; the intra-abdominal pressure may be raised and the colon may be thus unable to contract with sufficient impetus to expel its contents.
    Hill climbing. Hill climbing is a more valuable exercise than walking on the level, because the abdominal muscles are brought into more active play.  When mountain climbing is not an available form of exercise, nearly the same results may be obtained by climbing a ladder or by walking up and down stairs.  The writer has also made use of the treadmill as the means of securing muscular exercise similar to that required in hill climbing.
Horseback riding.  Horseback exercise is especially indicated as an exercise for constipation.  Riding a considerable distance, however, is necessary to produce any decided effect, as, on the whole, horseback riding to a person accustomed to it, is not very active exercise, except when riding a hard-trotting horse.
    Rowing.  Rowing is one of the very best exercises to combat constipation, provided the chest is held high during the exercise, and especially if care is taken to give the trunk as strong a backward movement as possible, but care must be taken to avoid holding the trunk forward with the shoulders rounded and the chest depressed.
    Tennis.  Tennis may be highly commended for young persons and those who are sufficiently strong to engage in this form of exercise without injury.  This very popular game is, however, too vigorous for persons with weak hearts.
    The medicine ball.  This is a capital exercise for persons who are fairly strong.  It brings the muscles of the trunk into vigorous action.
    Work exercises.  The movements of chopping and digging, swinging the hammer and mowing are highly valuable exercises if taken with due care to maintain the body in an erect position.  Many household occupations, such as scrubbing, washing, and general housework, are excellent forms of exercise when correct posture is maintained.

    Posture exercises.  Of first importance to persons suffering from constipation is the maintenance of an erect position of the trunk.   When the chest is lowered, as in sitting in a relaxed attitude, the distance between the breast bone and pelvis is diminished, so that the large muscles which form the front of the abdominal wall are shortened and relaxed.  In this attitude the muscles cannot be contracted sufficiently to produce the proper degree of intra-abdominal pressure.  When the chest is held high, the rectus muscles are stretched and are thus able by contraction to produce the maximum effect in compressing the colon.  Flat-chested persons are predisposed to constipation because of inefficient action of the abdominal muscles.

The ordinary chair must be regarded to a very considerable degree as responsible for the prevalence of flat chest and round shoulders, and the evils which result from this deformity.  It is possible to sit in an erect attitude in a chair of any shape; but with a chair with a straight back, constant effort is required by forcible contraction of the muscles, to maintain the body in an erect position.  The moment the muscles are permitted to relax, the trunk falls into an abnormal and unhealthy attitude, the spinal column being curved backward instead of forward, as is natural and necessary for health.
    As the result of an habitually wrong attitude in sitting, the same improper attitude is maintained when standing and walking, and the figure becomes deformed.  A flat chest, round shoulders, and a forward carriage of the hips are characteristics to be found in the great majority of persons who lead sedentary lives, especially those who sit much at their work, such as accountants, writers, teachers, and professional people generally.  One of the first things, then, for a constipated person to do is to correct his sitting and standing attitudes.  This may be done by careful execution of the following exercises, which the writer has employed for more than 25 years with much satisfaction in the treatment of cases of this sort.
    To correct the standing posture.  Stand against a straight wall.  Place heels, hips, shoulders, head and hands firmly against the wall.  Now bend the head backward as far as possible, or until the eyes look straight up to the ceiling, at the same time permitting the chest and shoulders to move forward.  While holding the head in this  position,  press  the  hands  firmly  against  the  wall;   draw  the  chin down to position without allowing the shoulders to move backward, still holding the body rigid, allowing the arms to fall at the sides.  In this position the chest will be held high and the abdominal muscles well drawn in.  While holding this position execute movements with the arms; arm raising above the head, swimming movements, etc.

    This is the correcting standing position and should, as far as possible, be constantly maintained in standing and walking.  It is impossible, of course, to hold the muscles constantly rigid.  In relaxing, however, care should be taken to keep the chest forward, so that the body does not fall back into the former incorrect attitude.

    Exercises to correct the sitting posture.  Sitting upon a chair or stool, preferably the latter, proceed as follows:
    Place the hands on the hips, with the thumbs behind.  Bend the head backward so as to look straight up to the ceiling; now bend forward as far as possible while still keeping the eyes on the ceiling; now make firm pressure with the thumbs, and while pressing hard bring the body up to the erect position.  Still keeping the eyes upon the ceiling, holding the elbows as far back as possible, and without for an instant lessening the pressure on the thumbs, bring the chin down to position.
    If this movement is executed according to directions, it will bring the body into perfect position, with the chest raised high and the abdominal muscles well drawn in.

Resisting the "Call." The practice of resisting the 'call' of Nature to discharge from the body accumulated wastes and rubbish is almost universal among civilized people, as the result of refinement of manners and modesty which lead to the concealment of certain animal functions as much as possible.  That this is the result of what is commonly called false modesty cannot be denied, and yet there are few who would desire that this so-called false modesty should be altogether laid aside.  It is important, however, that every person, children  as  well  as  adults,  and  at  a  very  early  age,  should  be  fully instructed respecting the evil results of resisting and thus thwarting one of the most important of the bodily functions.

    The use of tobacco.  Numerous laboratory experiments have shown that the use of tobacco in any form has a paralyzing effect upon the sympathetic nerves.  Without the aid of these sympathetic nerves, normal, rhythmical bowel movements are impossible.  The fact that some persons observe an apparently favorable influence from smoking, is accepted as evidence that the effects of the weed are favorable to the bowels.  These cases are exceptional.  In general, the use of tobacco is highly injurious to the intestine.
    Alcohol and other narcotic drugs.  Alcoholic beverages of all sorts tend to produce constipation, by causing chronic intestinal catarrh, ulcer of the stomach, and paralysis of the sympathetic nerves.
    We do not recommend laxatives such as purchased from the drug store or herbal laxatives in many cases from health stores that are just a laxative.  These become habit forming and this is not the procedure we recommend.  We use herbs to feed and rebuild the bowel, to activate the dormant peristaltic muscles and clean off the bowel walls for complete assimilation of foods going through the intestinal tract.
Water and Juice
    An abundant supply of wholesome unsweetened fruit and vegetable juice (especially raw spinach juice) should be used daily and, in addition, drink plenty of distilled water to supply liquid to the body.  The human body under normal circumstances is made up of approximately 80% fluid; this must be replenished daily in the form of liquid intake.  Only the best of liquid should be used to replace the daily loss through elimination from urination, perspiring and from the bowel area, etc.  The use of inorganic drinks (soft drinks) and beverages high in sugar, synthetic, sweetenings and artificial colorings, the use of alcoholic beverages and polluted stream or tap waters is as ridiculous as pouring salt, sugar or dirty water into the gas tank of your car.

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And we don't know how damaged/torn the diaphragm actually may be...but we know it needs to be healed and how to heal it.  Stop the constant upward pressure, correct the posture, and use the good healing herbs & protocols we have.  SO (deep breath & a grin) - here's what I'd recommend (even though I'm aware most of it's highly unlikely to happen with a 'newbie' - I still want to clearly explain what I think/know is the fastest, most effective healing plan...the one I'd want to do):

--Juice fasting with IF#1 & IF#2 for 30 days

--Superfood (for all the nourishment and 'healing fuel')

--Daily hot/cold showers (7 reps hot/cold) to increase circulation, with at least 1/2 the reps of hot/cold focused directly on the diaphragm/hernia.

--Daily rebounding (3-5 sessions daily)

--BF&C (Bone Flesh & Cartilage) either tea (very strong, 1 cup) or tincture (4-6 droppersful) 3x daily.  MH has capsules (I think) I'd suggest 5 capsules 3x daily.  (BF&C is nasty tasting...I don't like capsules, especially when digestion/assimilation is compromised, but capsules are better than nothing)

--Slippery Elm Porridge (3x daily) for healing & soothing.

--Nightly castor oil packs over hernia/diaphrapm (and liver)

--Daily Coffee Enemas.  (if CE's are a total "no go", then whatever kind of weekly flush/cleanse he'd do to ensure bile flow.  I think flushing or CE's are more "quicker effective" than bitters...but if he'll do the bitters, they're definitely good stuff...maybe you could get a tablespoon or two of olive oil in him after the bitters...or olive oil mixed with ginger root juice).

And that concludes this 'hiatal hernia' post.  'Sorry for the delay.

Healthiest of blessings,

Uny