Inguinal hernia men are 25 times more likely to have an inguinal hernia than women. Although several mechanisms such as strength of the posterior wall of the inguinal canal and shutter mechanisms compensating for raised intra-abdominal pressure prevent hernia formation in normal individuals, the exact importance of each factor is still under debate. The physiological school of thought thinks that the risk of hernia is due to a physiological difference between patients who suffer hernia and those who do not, namely the presence of aponeurotic extensions from the transversus abdominis aponeurotic arch. There are two types of inguinal hernia, "direct" and "indirect",
Inguinal canal Inguinal canal The inguinal canals are the two passages in the anterior abdominal wall which in males convey the spermatic cords and in females the round ligament of uterus. The inguinal canals are larger and more prominent in males. There is one inguinal canal on each side of the midline. The inguinal canals are situated just above the medial half of the inguinal ligament. In both sexes the canals transmit the ilioinguinal nerves. The canals are approximately 3.75 to 4 cm long. , angled anteroinferiorly and medially. A first-order approximation is to visualize each canal as a cylinder. To help