Breathe Easy

This is Part 3 of a 4-Part Series on how function and biomechanics relate to wearing your Vibram FiveFingers.

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Don’t sit down! And if you are already sitting, get up! Walk to your bathroom, close the door, and stand facing the mirror in as little clothing as possible. Now take a deep breath. Good. Again. Excellent. Now, one more time, and pay attention to what your shoulders are doing. Are they rising up toward the ceiling? Are your shoulders rounding forward as your ribcage elevates? My guess is that they most likely are. And, if this is the case, I can assume your breathing is very much compromised.

“But it’s just my breathing” you might be thinking. Yes, I understand this is an “unconscious” motion…you don’t have to think about or remind yourself to breathe, but the fact that you take 12-15 breaths per minute, for a total of about 20,000 breaths per day, makes breathing extremely important, to say the least.

The vast majority of us walking around are only using a fraction of our total lung capacity, and to put it bluntly, the more oxygen we’re missing out on, the faster we are dying. Think back to the exercise from above. Remember, your shoulders were moving up and down. In the ideal breathing pattern, your chest and shoulder level should remain unchanged during the breath. The movement should not be elevation (North-South), but rather your chest and ribs should expand East-West as your lungs fill. If your shoulders rise up and hinge forward with your breath, you are not using the correct motor pattern, which will lead to tension throughout your body.

In East-West breathing the lower rib cage and lower back expand horizontally upon taking a breath. The diaphragm contracts and descends into the abdominal area of the body, allowing for a deeper breath that fills the lower lobes of your lungs with needed oxygen. To quickly test this movement on yourself, place your thumbs on the kidney area of your lower back and your index fingers on your side abdominal muscles, just below your lowest rib. As you breathe in your fingers and thumbs should feel as if they are being pushed outward. If they are being drawn in (your chest is moving North-South), you are not stabilizing your torso due to postural compensations. This movement must be addressed.

But this is an article about Vibram FiveFingers (VFF), right? RIGHT! So, why am I talking about breathing? Because I believe wearing your VFFs will help you breath better! Wait…what?

In the last article, I talked about the ‘locking’ mechanism of the metatarsals that takes place right after the heel hits the ground. When wearing the VFFs, the foot spreads and the metatarsals spread creating a more stable foot. This stabilizing ‘domino effect’ happens all the way up the leg, from the ankle to the knee and finally to the hip…but it doesn’t stop there. Because the body is a unit, it can’t stop there.

If we continue following the chain up the body, we know that as we impact the hip, we are impacting the spinal column. Both the primary hip flexor (iliopsoas) and the primary breathing muscle (diaphragm) attach to your lumbar spine. If you are making your hip more functional by wearing your VFFs, you have to be placing a new stimulus on the lumbar spine and diaphragm, thus creating a more functional, efficient breathing pattern because of where the muscles attach to the lumbar spine. The combination of your Egoscue menu, in conjunction with allowing the body to move like it is designed to, will increase your diaphragm function, allow you to use more of your total lung capacity, and up your energy level.

If you want to get a head start on your overall function and biomechanics you can CLICK HERE to download four e-cises that will help you start living life PAIN FREE! Stay tuned for our fourth and final installment on Vibrams and function coming next week!

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The premise of The Egoscue Method is postural therapy: realigning the body to its original design blueprint through proper functional muscle engagement and without the use of drugs, surgery or manipulation. John Elder is the Clinic Director and Owner of the Franklin, Tennessee location. John found the Method at the age of 16 after suffering for two years with a bulging disc in his lower back. He has lived the last 16 years pain free and the last 5 years as an Egoscue Therapist sharing his story of hope with others throughout the south. Contact John today by emailing johne@egoscue.com or by calling the Nashville Clinic at 615.771.8556.