Breathe

Take a deep breath. Wait, before you do: are you breathing right? Granted, with all the pollen floating around, you might be suffering from some seasonal allergies (one of the side effects of chiropractic care is a boost in your immune system, just saying!), but aside from that, are you still breathing right?It seems kind of silly: you take your first breath right out of the womb, it's involuntary. You need to breath in order to survive. So how on earth could you be doing it wrong?Read more ...

When most people breathe in, they breathe through their mouth and raise their shoulders. That seems like a great way to take in a lot of air, but it's not as effective as you might think. The truth is, you should breathe in through your nose and out through your nose, and your shoulders shouldn't raise at all.If your shoulders are rising when you breathe in, you're not using your diaphragm correctly. The diaphragm is the best breathing muscle you have! The muscles used to raise your shoulders are secondary breathing muscles, and when you recruit them to do the work of your diaphragm, they're not very happy. This can lead to tense, tight, and even painful shoulder and neck muscles (squeeze your upper traps right now and feel how tight they are!). So if you want to take some tension out of those shoulders, take a deep breath - through your belly! It's not just about neck and shoulder pain, either, as a research study by Kolar et. al. showed. People with chronic low back pain demonstrated poor function of their diaphragm (1).If you breathe through your belly, you can't be holding it tight. That means no more sucking in (and let's face it, sucking in doesn't make you look any thinner anyways; it makes you look like you're sucking in). Relax your abs and let yourself take in a nice belly breath. Your abdomen should expand in 360 degrees: try to think of pushing your waistband out in all directions with every breath you take, not just pushing your belly straight out in front of you.If you're concerned about appearances, you can still "suck in" for pictures, at cocktail parties, and while parading around the pool in your bikini or Speedo. Otherwise, take a look at my blog The "D" Word and think about changing your eating habits!Dr. Lindsay Mumma - lindsaymumma@gmail.com - is a chiropractor at Triangle Chiropractic and Rehabilitation Center in Raleigh, NC. Her clinic focuses on offering multiple manual therapy options for pain management and functional improvement. For more information, please visit www.triangleCRC.com .1. Kolar, P. et al. Postural function of the diaphragm in persons with and without chronic low back pain. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. Epub 21 Dec 2011.