April 24, 2024
I mentioned in my last edition of the “The Myomemory Bulletin” that I would be writing on other proprioceptors involved with the dynamic dance involving your skeletal equilibrium, balance, stability, and mobility against the vertical forces of gravity and ground reaction force (GRF). However, I recently read a great article about “lateral breathing” I felt the urge to share with you.
But before getting into the article, I want to let you know that I did not do an article in March because I have continued to work on the manuals for Myomemory Advantage Transformation (MAT) or the ideology I use in my clinic to treat acute and chronic musculoskeletal symptoms as well as taking piano lessons. All this as I turned 70 this month.
By the way, check out my new website! I am currently making changes to accommodate the courses and manuals for M.A.T. I plan to have available on-line. My hope is that it will be up and running by the end of the summer.
As I mentioned, I recently read this article about “lateral breathing.” It was written by Dr. John Douillard, DC, CAP. who is a globally recognized leader in the fields of natural health, Ayrurveda, and sports. After reading it, I felt the need to share it with you. He has a website on the internet https://lifespa.com.
Regarding breathing, it is definitely one of those things in our lives that we all take for granted. However, how we breathe is very much tied into our health and well-being and how the body’s musculoskeletal system works.
Dr. Karl Lewit (1916-2014), a neurologist and world authority in myoskeletal medicine once stated, “Respiration is our primary and important movement pattern…and also the most dysfunctional.” He went onto say, “If breathing isn’t normalized, no other movement pattern can be.”
During the inhalation and exhalation efforts you make with every breath you take, your ribcage has the unique ability to increase its dimensions anterior/posterior and lateral all at the same time. I was always aware of the anterior and posterior motion, but not the lateral motion that would involve muscles like the quadratus lumborum and intercostals which are part of M.A.T.’S side linear pattern. The fascial and neuromyofascial pattern providing lateral stability to your structure.
Have you ever thought about how many breaths you take per minute? If you are truly honest, I am sure you don’t have any idea. But, the average adult breathes at about 14-18 breaths per minute, which may be as many as 25,000 breaths per day. Talk about a habit!
Most studies suggest that health and longevity benefits of slowing your respiration down begins once you reach 6 breaths per minute or 8,600 breaths per day. Another benefit of slowing your respiration rate is the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system and increasing the tone of the “vagus nerve.” The vagus nerve, the tenth cranial nerve and longest, is responsible for the regulation of your internal organ functions such as digestion, heart rate, and respiratory rate.
Along with your sympathetic and enteric nervous system (ENS), the parasympathetic represents one of the three branches of your autonomic nervous system (ANS). The ANS is a component of your nervous system that regulates involuntary physiologic process including heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, and even sexual arousal.
Simply, your sympathetic nervous system activates body processes that help you in times of need, especially in times of stress or danger. It is responsible for your body’s “fight-or-flight” response. The parasympathetic system, on the other hand, does the opposite. This system is responsible for the “rest-and-digest” body processes. The ENS is also part of the ANS as mentioned and manages how your body digests food.
In short, you want to live your life with increased parasympathetic tone and one of the benefits of slowing your respiration rate does just that. Slow breathing more dramatically moves the diaphragm, which in turn stimulates the vagus nerve. Studies have shown that maintaining a breath rate in the range of 4-9 breaths per minute (BPM) keeps you in the range of vagal stimulation, with 6 BPM being optimal.
In a 2021 study, researchers found that breathing sessions at 6 BPM were found to provide support against depression, anxiety, and stress. In another study during 2023, it concluded that slow, deep breathing was an effective tool for mental health, sustained attention, and ability to handle stress.
Take a minute to observe how you are breathing at rest. Most people inhale for 1-2 counts and exhale for 1 count, suggesting that the exhalation is typically shorter than the inhalation. With beginning breathing exercises, you are usually told to lengthen the exhalation, but after the exercise is over, it is easy to quickly revert back to the shallow way of breathing with a quick inhalation and an even quicker and more passive exhalation.
Keep in mind though that the exhalation is more important than the inhalation, as it becomes more difficult to inhale if the lungs have not completely emptied. Various studies have been done to substantiate the importance of the exhalation during respiration. One study did show that with long, slow deep breathing programs there indeed was a reduction in dead space inside the lungs. The dead space is stagnate air that is not inhaled or exhaled during normal respiration.
Typically, about 500 ml of air remains stagnate when you breathe too shallow; deep breathing with a full and complete exhalation effectively removes the dead air space. Thus, a full exhalation is a prerequisite for a full inhalation. This study suggests that efficiency of a full exhalation sets up a more natural and complete inhalation.
To reinforce the importance of the exhalation phase of your respiration, you only have to look back to the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. It was the first Olympics held in high altitude. The U.S. Olympic Team prepared for these games by having a breathing instructor, Carl Stough.
Prior to training athletes, he trained people who sang. He trained these Olympic athletes like Lee Evans in 1968, a sprinter who won two gold medals to breathe more efficiently with a focus on a more complete exhalation. That year, the U.S. Track and Field team won more gold medals than any Olympics in the history of the team. They were also the only team that did not use oxygen during the games. Lee Evans reported that the key to Stough’s training was indeed to fully complete the exhalation.
One study has compared three types of breathing which included prolonged exhalations, box breathing (inhale hold, exhale hold), and deep fast breathing (longer inhale and shorter exhale). Each of these were practiced 5 minutes per day. The breathing practice with the prolonged exhalations produced greater improvements in mood and lower respiratory rates than other types of breathing.
When it comes to how most of us breathe, we have adapted to a “vertical” breathing pattern that supports an efficient stress response. When under stress, our bodies take a gasping, upper-chest breath through the mouth in an effort to activate the fight or flight receptors in the upper lobes of the lungs. Long, slow nose breathing naturally directs the oxygen into the lower lobes of the lungs where most of the “rest, digest, and rejuvenate” receptors are found. As a result of chronic stress-based shallow breathing, the lower rib cage becomes more tight and rigid. When shallow breathing is the norm, the elastic recoil of both lungs and rib cage are constantly contracting in an effort to move air out.
I find in the clinic that most of my clients have lateral instability not allowing them to breathe laterally because they have a tighter lower rib cage with hypertonicity of their intercostals and QL due to sitting too much. As a result, the diaphragm is unable to fully deflate like a parachute into its natural, resting relaxing position which is up and under the rib cage.
Instead, they rely more on “vertical breathing” that increases the facilitation of the scalene muscles of the neck. The scalene muscles in which there are the middle, anterior, and posterior run from the lateral neck on both sides of the body down to the first and second ribs.
The scalene muscles also help form the “thoracic outlet” which is an anatomical ring formed by the top ribs on both sides of the body, just below the collarbone or clavicle. Thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) occurs when the nerves and blood vessels of the thoracic outlet get compressed or entrapped by the ribs, collarbone, or scalene muscle at the top of the outlet usually from a dysfunctional breathing pattern. TOS can be the underlying cause of many chronic neck, shoulder, and upper extremity symptoms that can start with a dysfunctional breathing pattern most of us exhibit.
Many clients I see in the clinic have an elevated rib cage on one side or the other, or both sides because of their dysfunctional breathing relying too much on vertical breathing. To resolve these issues, you have to re-learn how to breathe properly. Observe your dog or even a horse breathe, you will notice their rib cage expands laterally and their shoulders remain still. Most clients I see have adapted to a pattern of stressed breathing engaging their shoulders more and sometimes the neck by using their scalene muscles to pull the air up into the upper chest.
This is because the rib cage has literally become a cage, squeezing down on the heart and lungs some 26,000 times a day. The tighter the lower rib cage becomes especially with too much sitting, the more likely you will adapt to breathing vertically into the upper chest. As the rib cage narrows to support shallow, vertical breathing, the diaphragm weakens and fails to fully contract and relax.
In one recent study of various athletes, 91% tested did not have a diaphragm that was fully relaxing and contracting. If the best athletes have failed diaphragmatic function, then a higher percentage of us mere mortals or non-athletes do not have an optimally functioning diaphragm. Therefore, we all could benefit from working on our diaphragmatic function and rib cage elasticity with “lateral breathing.”
In conclusion, most people you see during your day, no matter their age, have a dysfunctional breathing pattern just like Dr. Karl Lewit stated. If you don’t like to change your breathing pattern with the exercise below, just put more of your focus on the exhalation phase of your respiration trying to prolong it. That by itself, can help you breathe more efficiently. For those of you who want to practice the new breathing pattern, “lateral breathing,” I have enclosed an exercise below.
I am trying to keep up with my writing an article once a month, but things continue to get hectic for me with these on-line courses. In my next “Myomemory Bulletin”, I will again talk about the proprioceptors involved with the dynamic polarity of your skeletal equilibrium, balance, stability, and mobility as was promised last time. Until then, “BE WELL!”
TRY THIS LATERAL BREATHING EXERCISE!
Step One:
Lie on your back in the supine position or sit up comfortably. Whether lying down or sitting, make sure you are in good alignment. Now, take a slow breath in through your nose into your lower abdomen without moving your chest and shoulders. Fill your belly a little, then try to breathe into the lower rib cage and expand your ribs laterally out to both sides. As you breathe into these lateral ribs, keep filling your rib cage laterally as far as you can. Keep inhaling and try to push your breath into the ribs that wrap around to your back. This is “lateral breathing!” Continue for ten breaths.
DO 2-3 SETS OF 10 OF THESE BREATHS 2-3 TIMES A DAY.
Step Two:
Raise your arms up (palms face forward) over your head and laterally bend to the right. Once you are in a maximal, but comfortable lateral bend of your trunk, take a long, slow, and deep lateral breath, pushing the lower left rib cage out to the side. Once you reach your maximum, you can take some small sips of air through your mouth to fill the lateral rib cage even further. Then as you slowly exhale, slowly laterally bend to the left side, breathing all the air out of the lungs. Repeat this 10 times on the right and 10 times on the left with full exhalations each time.
Do 2-3 sets of 10 of these breaths 2-3 times a day.