Proper Breathing?

April 18, 2001

Mark Reifkind wrote:

<One of the problems seems to be that many adults have lost the " natural "

breathing pattern that most children seem to have. If you watch most kids

breathe you'll notice their little tummies going in and out like a bellows.

Classic belly breathers.

So many adults are conditioned never to let their stomachs out that they

either keep them pulled in all

the time or lose strength in the ab muscles to actually use them for

exhalation.

Endurance athletes (especially runners)know this since breath control is

vital to their sport.

I see a lot of people who have very tight upper trapezii, scalenes and

levator scapula from chest breathing (among other things).>

*** All too often we come across the concept that infants and primitive

tribesfolk instinctively have more efficient postures, breathing patterns and

movement skills than any Western adults who have lost this 'natural ability'

to do many motor activities right. During the period while I was doing my

Masters in brain research I had considerable contact with a host of different

" alternative " folk, technicians, Rolfers, meditators, yogi, applied

kinesiologists, and so forth, and the belief seemed to be very common that

babies and jungle folk instinctively did all things motor in just the " right "

way. Many scientists today have questioned various myths associated with the

theory of the " noble savage " . A lazy or inactive child or noble savage is

just as likely to execute motor and breathing tasks as a lazy or inactive

Western adult.

Many of them seemed to forget:

1. The fact that many babies and jungle dwellers display many inefficient

motor and breathing abilities

2. The fact that the infant anatomy is not a miniature duplicate of adult

anatomy. For one thing, the spine of the infant has not even developed the

typical adult spinal curvatures or the ability to effectively use the

accessory muscles of respiration (see books such as Kapandji " Physiology of

the Joints " ).

3. The fact that great efficiency of posture, movement and breathing is a

learned skill, most commonly associated with participation in sufficiently

demanding regular physical activity.

4. The fact that there is no 'ideal' pattern for doing anything, because

there is always a wide range of individual variation.

5. There is nothing " wrong " with using the accessory muscles of respiration

when the task becomes strenuous enough. As I remarked in an earlier letter,

it is only if one habitually uses these muscles under resting conditions that

this type of breathing pattern may be deemed to be inefficient.

Now for the really interesting underlying idea - besides some differences in

respiratory muscle action, what is really the difference in efficiency

between so-called " belly breathing " and " chest breathing " , assuming that

there is minimal action of the accessory muscles of respiration in both cases

(i.e., minimal chest heaving and shoulder elevation)? Besides the yogic

proclamations as to its superiority, is there any research which shows that

belly breathing is 'functionally' superior to natural chest breathing during

which the breather makes no intentional effort either to expand the chest or

the abdomen?

After all, the distension of the belly is really a secondary effect of the

breathing process - it happens because the elastic diaphragm pushes downwards

towards the stomach during inhalation, creating an intra-abdominal pressure

which naturally tends to force the abdominal wall outwards. The abdominal

muscles do not initiate or fundamentally control the inhalation - relaxed

exhalation simply is a consequence of reflexive diaphragmatic action.

Paralyse the abdominal muscles (yes, that famous TVA muscle as well) and you

will still be able to breathe; paralyse the diaphragm and you will soon

suffocate.

Please do not think that I am simply being contentious here, because I have

naturally learned to belly breathe through years of yoga and various sports,

but I now begin to question more deeply everything that I learned during my

past. Accepting something because it suits me and because I like it is no

valid reason for concluding that this thing is scientifically correct or

superior to other things. I simply want to see the evidence showing why

belly breathing is so good for me and anyone else who is curious about this

idea. If it is wrong, then I want to be among the first to belly laugh about

the whole silly issue! If it is correct, then I want to be able to quote the

scientific scriptures that deem it to be so.

However, my gut feeling (pun intended) is that there is a variety of

breathing patterns which may be used for any given task at a given time. And

for some folk, a combination of belly and chest breathing may even be better

than a simple emphasis on either. For many of us, it might even be essential

to periodically punctuate our breathing by brief episodes of sighs, deep

breaths or accessory muscle assisted breathing to enhance overall efficiency

of respiration - and there is evidence that this is exactly what appears to

be the case. You will even notice that we periodically hold our breath and

change our rate and pattern of breathing even when we are at rest, so that we

cannot unquestioningly accept beliefs about belly-based concepts of

breathing.

Maybe there are even patterns of respiration during which chest and belly

action alternate in dominance, so that it is perfectly natural to breathe

" from the belly " for part of the time and " from the chest " for the rest of

the time. Maybe this sort of contingency plan facilitates recovery of some

working or postural muscles to enhance overall efficiency. Who knows? Has

anyone come across any serious research articles on breathing mechanics like

this?

The whole idea of breathing displaying prolonged simpler harmonic (or

sinusoidal) patterns of inhalation and exhalation may even be seriously

flawed, for it may be that breathing, like our cardiac 'rhythm', tends to be

more 'chaotic' (following the principles of nonlinear dynamics which some of

us discussed recently) and that any attempts to enforce greater long-term

regularity could be counterproductive.

Burkhardt commented:

<Noted *wellness* guru Weil makes a big deal about breathing, and how

to do it *correctly* for maximum health benefits. I'm pretty suspicious of

the claims he makes regarding the importance of proper breathing on health. >

*** It would be interesting to see what Weil really knows about the

physiology and biomechanics of breathing under different conditions. It

would be especially interesting to see if he has ever cited a single

reference which has scientifically compared the relative efficiencies of

different types of breathing. Many of us have read the same old Eastern or

yogic texts or taken part in what those philosophies teach, but, while that

may suggest some interesting research projects, it does not automatically

prove that we know what we are talking about. It is fallacious to state that

a person suffers from or recovers slowly from asthma attacks, colds, 'flu or

other respiratory ailments because of 'bad' breathing habits - this may well

be putting the cart before the horse, because the ailment is what alters the

breathing pattern. Has anyone actually shown that non-Weil breathing

patterns or chest-breathing patterns causally correlate with any diseases?

PRACTISING AND PREACHING

I appreciate that what I am about to write is rather peripheral to the issue,

but it always intrigues me that Weil can attract such a following and preach

about everything in health and wellness, yet he is significantly overweight

( " overfat " ), hardly the picture of physical fitness and looks rather old for

his age. While I know that some very ill people can be great teachers of

health and fitness, it still seems very contradictory for someone like Weil,

who has no form of disability or serious disease, to look like the average

overindulgent Westerner who can hardly walk around the block without puffing.

My apologies, Dr Weil, but as an athlete and health practitioner who does

his best to practise and look like what I preach, I still struggle with this!

Maybe years of athletic chauvinism has made me overcritical, but to me this

looks a lot like a priest preaching the scriptures but running a brothel

behind the scenes! I am sure that Weil is a most likeable, marvellous and

interesting man, but the health and fitness professions tend to identify more

with those who practise and look like what they preach. Maybe his intended

audience which is anthropomorphically similar to Weil identifies with him for

that very reason, while they would never identify with the physiques of

Olympic athletes. Maybe he knows exactly what he is doing. Then again, Dr

, who started the aerobics craze, has always looked lean, mean

and fit, and he has been eminently successful in his health profession

endeavours.

Dr Mel C Siff

Denver, USA

Supertraining/

April 18, 2001

Mark:

One of the problems seems to be that many adults have

lost the " natural " breathing pattern that most

children seem to have. If you watch most kids breathe

you'll notice their little tummies going in and out

like a bellows. Classic belly breathers.

So many adults are conditioned never to let their

stomachs out that they either keep them pulled in all

the time or lose strength in the ab muscles to

actually use them for exhalation.

Endurance athletes (especially runners)know this since

breath control is vital to their sport.

I see a lot of people who have very tight upper

trapezii, scalenes and levator scapula from chest

breathing (among other things).

Roy:

There is a danger with this approach of treating

breathing as a function we can improve by consciously controlling it.

Mark:

This is true is one were to assume that everything is

functioning properly(naturally) but what if the

mechanisms involved are dysfunctional?

--------------------

Mark Reifkind

San USA

April 18, 2001

Mark:

One of the problems seems to be that many adults have

lost the " natural " breathing pattern that most

children seem to have. If you watch most kids breathe

you'll notice their little tummies going in and out

like a bellows. Classic belly breathers.

So many adults are conditioned never to let their

stomachs out that they either keep them pulled in all

the time or lose strength in the ab muscles to

actually use them for exhalation.

Endurance athletes (especially runners)know this since

breath control is vital to their sport.

I see a lot of people who have very tight upper

trapezii, scalenes and levator scapula from chest

breathing (among other things).

Roy:

There is a danger with this approach of treating

breathing as a function we can improve by consciously controlling it.

Mark:

This is true is one were to assume that everything is

functioning properly(naturally) but what if the

mechanisms involved are dysfunctional?

--------------------

Mark Reifkind

San USA

April 18, 2001

At 09:04 AM 4/18/01 -0700, you wrote:

>Endurance athletes (especially runners)know this since

>breath control is vital to their sport.

I agree, and so do singers. I note that the feeling of coldness in the

hands and feet that those with nervous irritation leading to pain normally

experience isn't nearly so acute if the patient is in the choir, or if they

work out aerobically, or if they are in a yoga or martial arts discipline.

As someone has suggested, the cultural " ideal " of abdominal flatness

achieved by elevating the diaphragm strongly discourages normal breathing

yet, I find, it is commonly done. It is even encouraged by the PT community

at times. A brochure printed by my national association for the general

public three years ago said " don't just wear your stomach muscles, pull

them in! " Unfortunately, people feel that if they breath like Pavarotti

that they will look like him, or if they let their gut out, no one will

love them. I'm not kidding.

Another aspect of this I've found important is the resting posture of the

legs. If you have someone lie supine and observe the distance between their

feet and their willingness to allow external rotation of the hips, you'll

often find that their more symptomatic side is " at attention " and the other

side less so. This internal rotation and adduction of the hip not only

increases neural tension (a biomechanical fact) but, I find, it distinctly

restricts diaphragmatic excursion, probably by some interference of a

contracted psoas. Try it on yourself and you'll see what I mean

immediately. Normal breathing is much easier while supine with the hips

abducted and externally rotated, but, like diaphragmatic breathing, such a

thing is counter-cultural.

Barrett L. Dorko, P.T.

" The Clinician's Manual " <http://barrettdorko.com>

Also at <http://rehabedge.com>

And <http://prorehabonline.com>

And <http://physicaltherapist.com>

And <http://rehabmax.com>

April 18, 2001