Abdominals and the Breath (Pt 2)

 

Does your breathing ever feel tight or restricted, like you can't get a full inhalation? Do you have neck pain, jaw problems, or headaches?  Is your lower back overly flattened?  Or, maybe you have a combination of these symptoms?  I was surprised to see what the connection was with the abdominal muscles.

 

Last week we chatted about the difference between weak and overly tight abdominal muscles.  For weak abs, I offered a safe, simple way to strengthen them. If you missed it, it's here.  Remember, the abdominal muscles need to be strong and flexible.  Strong enough to do their job and they must also know how to relax and lengthen when the work is over.  

 

There is a direct connection between the abdominals and the diaphragm.  

Briefly, the diaphragm is a dome-shaped sheet of muscle that separates the chest from the abdomen.  During exhalation, it arches up like an umbrella and relaxes like a pancake during the inhalation.  There are a variety of muscles that make this motion happen, referred to as the muscles of respiration.  

The abdominal muscles can get tight and short due to a chronic slumped posture (from sitting or sleeping in a fetal position) or being overly tight (from too many crunches).  This tight and shortened position causes a pulling down and in of the rib cage toward the lower back.  This is like wearing tight jeans or a "plastic (or steel!) boned corsets . . . to nip in your waist" like at corset-story.com. You can imagine how this restricts the movement of the diaphragm and causes compression of the abdomen. It tries, but the poor diaphragm cannot take its natural movement of arching and flattening.   

Here's a little bit about the mechanics of breathing.  Surprisingly, the lungs don't have the power to contract and expand on their own.  It's the atmospheric pressure that inflates the lungs. Lungs take the shape of their container. If rib cage is narrow or compressed for any reason, it will make the lungs smaller.   

So, the body's got to breathe, right.  If the diaphragm isn't moving optimally, other muscles have to kick in and help out. These "accessory" muscles include the upper chest, neck and rib cage (intercostals) muscles.  These muscles have to work extra to compensate for the disrupted movement of the diaphragm.  Particularly, over-stressed neck muscles can cause all kinds of problems, contributing to neck and jaw pain and headaches.  This also causes upper chest breathing, rather than the fuller diaphragmatic breath.  Oh, and the nervous system--it gets affected also by shallow, upper chest breathing.  

This less-than-optimal breathing can all be set into motion by abdominals that are overly short and tight.  There are some pretty simple, but highly effective, movement and stretches that you can do that will lead a fuller breath, reduced tension in the upper chest and neck and a calming of the nervous system.  But, I've run out of room, so we'll put it off until next week some exercise and stretches to help free the diaphragm.