Breathing - Part 2.
Our nervous system and how we can influence it with thorax mechanics
Breathing facilitates Movement and Movement facilitates breathing. Breathing can also facilitate Stability.
For this reason, breathing patterns may change from person to person depending on the task and the level of control the person.
The Thoracic Ring Approach and ConnectTherapy are the brainchild of Dr LJ Lee who I studied under for 2 years. From her website page she describes beautifully how breathing can be influenced by the thorax and why the ribs are so important (https://synergyphysiopilates.com/unique-approaches/thoracic-ring-approach/)
“….The diaphragm attaches to the lower 6 thoracic rings, and multiple thoracic ring muscles are involved in breathing – when these muscles are out of balance, they affect your options to breathe into different parts of your rib cage, which is sometimes more obvious during certain movements or activities because of the extra demands on the thoracic muscles to create movement and control….. ”
So in part 1 we briefly touched in the idea that there should be more emphasis on the outcome a breathing cue has on someone’s movement and that we are all unique in our movement patterns so there is never one size fits all.
…we are all unique in our movement patterns and so there is never one size fits all.
So can breathing actually make us calmer? And can our thorax and rib mechanics affect our nervous system ?
There has been several studies looking at how we can change our tidal breathing (amount of air we inhale and exhale plus the rate we breath) to keep our autonomic nervous system in a relaxed state.
Quick refresher = autonomic nervous system controls our automatic system such as sweating , breathing , heart rate, digestion etc
If we want to slow our heart rate and calm our body, research has shown that the parasympathetic system ( your calming arm of the autonomic nervous system) acts via the vagus nerve and a certain chemical (Ach) while the sympathetic system is a relay of nerves in the thoracic spinal column plus a different chemical (norepinephrine or also known as noradrenaline which is released by your adrenals). I hear a few sighs of recognition out there ! 😊
Why do you need to even know about this you may ask? You probably don’t BUT what you need to know is that the parasympathetic system reacts faster to your change in breathing pattern than the sympathetic system does, PLUS Ach can stop the release of noradrenaline.
Soooo you can train your body to react to deep breathing and it will both learn to respond but also it has an inbuilt ability to react faster to slower breathing rates. Cool huh !
If your thorax is not functioning optimally, your nervous system may be getting “mixed signals” about the status of your body and environment, and therefore respond with increased sympathetic activity – which will keep you in a “fight or flight” state – when it is not needed.
I often see clients who may experience episodes of agitation, anxiety, sleep disturbances plus other signs of over-activity in the sympathetic system , have improvements when we address and treat the cause of their thorax dysfunction and change the input to their autonomic nervous system.
This means, that you don’t necessarily need to have thoracic pain to have this region influence your nervous system and other areas of your body ! But, let’s stay on track and get back to how your diaphragm movement and rib mechanics can help your breathing and therefore flick your parasympathetic system into action.
Mechanics of Breathing : Franklin Method diagram
If we follow on from the mechanics of breathing we discussed before - Normal breathing involves movement of the diaphragm downwards allowing for the ribs to move up and out. This means the diaphragm contracts or shortens as it lowers into the abdomen. This is facilitated by surrounding abdominal muscles plus muscles that attach to the upper ribs and neck.
Exhalation is usually just a relaxation of the diaphragm but when we have a forced breath out then the abdominals contract to push the diaphragm forcefully upwards to push air out of the lungs.
So, easy relaxed movement of our diaphragm = increased volume of air = ability to learn to breath slowly without compromising the amount of oxygen we have available.
Imagine if you have stiff ribs or tight abdominals - your diaphragm can’t shorten to lower into the abdomen or relax enough to rise up into the ribcage (you need a full range of movement in a muscle for it to work well).
So now during just average day to day tasks, you have a shallow or altered breathing pattern ( eg from that sticky diaphragm movement or tight rib cage )that needs to be fast enough to give you the required amount of air BUT this now increases your breath rate which now flips your nervous system into a flight fight sympathetic response. Research has worked on around 8 -10 breaths per minute = slow breathing and 12 breaths per minute = moderately fast and anything over 16 is fast. Your goal is to reduce the rate your are breathing but you still need to have enough air !
Breathing and thorax / abdominal movement
Soooo all the advice to take slow controlled breathing has merit BUT you may find you can’t slow your breath down or get a deep enough breath without running out of air.
I am going to discuss just mechanical solutions to this but do realise that there is other reasons such as carbon dioxide sensitivity etc that will play a part to whether you can slow your breath rate, but that is beyond a pilates and movement solution.
You may need to move your body to allow this deeper breathing to take place rather than sit or lie still.
The movement needs to be targeted and controlled so not to exert effort BUT needs to facilitate the freedom of bony rib and thorax movement plus provide stretch into the abdominal muscles.
There is something call anatomical dead space which is the air that doesn’t get used for breathing. This means that you can increase your breathing but if there is no change to the volume of your breath then there is no change to the actual amount of air going into the lung tissues. By increasing your diaphragm flexibility and ability to move the ribs / thorax there is the evidence that lung perfusion ( oxygen going from lungs to blood) increases.
Again, if you have COPD or other lung issues this article may not relate to you and you will need to consult with your GP before trialling any of the suggested breathing patterns.
Sooooo now you know you have to look at both your rib / thorax mechanics, your ability to move your diaphragm , and then combine the two so you can breathe and move.
Let’s look at the styles of breathing options out there.
There are many different styles of breathing with different goals for each. From pursed lip breathing to belly breathing to various specific yoga breathing techniques. They all aim to influence your nervous system in a calmative way.
I am no yoga expert so will leave the yogi breathing styles to the experts.
Here is a great link to 10 different breathing styles
https://www.healthline.com/health/breathing-exercise#takeaway
You can now explore all the different styles of breathing from nose breathing to nostril breathing to timed inhale and exhales and breath holds WITH THE AWARENESS of your own unique body that may need to be moved and stretched to allow for the full use of the diaphragm.
