Breathing is pretty vital to our life. Obviously not in just the part that we need it to stay alive, but in the more general area in that the quality of our breathing also affects the quality of our life. Posture plays a huge part in this, and poor posture not only means we see more Springfield back pain patients, but also it hinders these people’s ability to actually breath properly. So it’s certainly a twofold issue.
This is because the muscles that help and control our posture also help and control our breathing. If we have poor posture, we slouch more, our backs become more rounded, hamstring muscles are stretched and our bellys tend to become larger. That’s just the physical side.
Then on the breathing front, poor posture contributes heavily into the quality of the air intake we have. This poor posture means that it’s more likely you will be out of shape, have shortness of breath, diaphragm issues and shallow breath. So focusing on improving posture is vital for better breathing and less low back pain.
But how to achieve this? There are many exercises that you can try, but this is a really good one (albeit a little complex to achieve at first). It involves a deflated balloon, a 6 inch ball, a floor and a wall.
Consider this… the main factors that can affect breathing problems and patterns with poor posture include being out of shape, shortness of breath, shallow breathing, problems with the diaphragm and associated area, and of course, low back pain. All this is related to poor posture because many of the muscles that help and control our breathing also help provide our core trunk strength too.
- Lay on your back and place your feet against a nearby wall. Your knees should be 90 degrees to the floor so that your lower leg is parallel to the floor.
- Place a ball between your knees.
- Place your right arm above your head and use your left to place the balloon in your mouth.
- Breath in through your nose, push into the floor with your back, drag your heels downward on the wall and squeeze the ball with your knees. It might take a couple of attempts to get this.
- Breath out slowly into the balloon inflating it slightly. Do not allow any air to come out and then push your tongue to the roof of your mouth to help prevent this.
- Breath in through your nose again and repeat the exercise four more times ensuring that you are not straining your cheeks or neck.
- Once you have completed the exercise, relax, take the balloon away and let the air out.
You can do this exercise a couple of times a day and it will help you breath better and train your posture.
If you’re still having issues, come in and see us. We help people improve their posture and get out of pain. But this will also help improve your breathing as a positive side effect.
In pain? Want a tune up? Call us today (908) 325 – 3000. We can treat and help you.
