Can osteopathy help my breathing
Do you suffer from shortness of breath (SOB), asthma or find your only breathe with your upper chest? Osteopathy can help you with your breathing! Most people, surprisingly don't breathe 'correctly'. Shocking but true. Most of us breathe using our upper ribs/chest, not engaging our diaphragm and lower ribs.
Anatomy
Mostly commonly, you have 12 pairs of ribs (left and right). Occasionally you might have an extra upper ribs (cervical rib) or lower floating rib. There are a series of muscles that help the rib bones expand and relax, aiding the pull of air into your lungs. There primary breathing muscles, used for passive, quiet breathing and secondary muscles, when you are 'working harder'.
Factors that can affect breathing:
- Asthma
- Sinusitis
- Allergies
- Stress
- Panic attacks
- Smoking
- Common cold
- Lung disease e.g. Pneumonia, lung cancer, bronchitis, COPD, emphysema
- Pregnancy
- Body weight
What is upper rib breathing?
Ideally when you take a breathe in, your ribs expand and your tummy 'gets bigger'. When you exhale your ribs relax to a neutral position and your tummy 'gets smaller'. For upper rib breathing your upper ribs/chest move and your lower ribs and tummy do not or barely move at all.
It is easy to train yourself to engage your lower ribs and use your diaphragm. Place your hands on your tummy. When you breathe in gently make your tummy 'bigger' and when your breathe out tighten your tummy to the starting position.
How can osteopathy help?
Osteopathic treatment is aimed at assessing the movement of the rib cage...is it symmetrical, are there areas of restriction, are you dominantly using your accessory breathing muscles during quiet breathing, are you engaging your diaphragm. Whilst some underlying conditions osteopaths can not fix, we can help improve your ability to breathe. Osteopaths commonly teach diaphragmatic breathing to their patients. This is not only to improve breathing but it is a simple way for you to relax and unwind in times of stress. Treatment is also not isolated to the ribs and breathing muscles. As all osteopathic treatment is based, it assesses the patient as a whole. Is there a pelvic rotation affecting the strain of one side of the rib cage, is there a neck/cervical spine restriction affecting the neurological supply to diaphragm and restricting the breathing muscles e.g. scalenes and so on.