nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

We want to hear from you: please tell us about your experience of the online community.

Diaphragm breathing

Biblioklept

Does anyone else spend time doing this?? I've been trying to get different areas of my health seen to (with mixed results!!) and my physio showed me diaphragm breating to practice and said it's really useful for many things, I think my cardiologist has mentioned it before too as apparently it can help with a lot!

But although the physio practiced it with me and demonstrated I can never remember it properly when I add in the movements I'm meant to be doing too!! I'll have to stick with just breathing I think😅

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

theme79

it’s a battle to manage when you have multiple overlapping issues - the system tends to divide us into specific conditions and specialists as if we were different bodily parts and systems but it’s not like that in practice - so basically we have to do the integration and TRY to get different specialties to communicate and work across teams - of course that is an uphill battle as our health system doesn’t work like that !!! Even getting info from a GP to a doctor to a physio and back on one integrated actionable package is fraught with chaos composers that don’t use the same software and plain lack of coordination.

I make a point of copying EVERTHING and keeping a file myself - all blood tests physio letters scan copies and X-rays (ask for digital copies) and easier now as i can keep them on my computer.

Then sort out your own needs and what’s best for YOU and fight for them based on your own personal knowledge ! I have data going back many years !

bookrabbit

My breathing got really bad in early 2020, just before it was likely to be COVID. I had to sleep sitting up and really concentrate on pushing air all the way out. Part of my recovery was teaching myself to use my diaphragm to breathe. It is now second nature and now my asthma only flares up when I am forced to breathe pollution. It has been life changing. I haven't used an inhaler since then which is great because inhalers spike my anxiety levels in an intolerable way. I find putting an air filter on clears my breathing faster if do get an asthma attack. I bought a portable one to take out.

I also used to get a lot of intercostal pain in my ribs which is also now a thing of the past now I am not gasping for breath all the time. I also mouth breathe less so my mouth doesn't dry out at night any more.

It has been life changing and I highly recommend learning it. It takes concentration at first but once you get it you no longer have to think about it.

Littlefatfriend

We were taught to breath from our diaphragm as part of classical vocal training in Newcastle Cathedral Choir, aged 6-11.

My spinal injury (T4 complete) prevents me doing that properly, but I can simulate it as effectively as possible essentially by making myself breathe out as fully as possible.

We don't often do that in everyday life. The way I do it is by singing a note (or notes) until I literally lose the capacity to make noise. I then find myself breathing in as deeply as I'm able. This is also something I was taught in the choir.

Technically, we all breathe with our diaphragm:

"The ribs [above our diaphragm] have muscles in between them that help the chest wall expand when you inhale. The muscles of the neck and shoulders can also help to expand the chest cavity. When music teachers tell you to breathe from the diaphragm, I believe they are actually talking about 2 different things:

1: They want you to both expand your chest cavity AND pull that diaphragm way down into your belly so that you can take a nice, big, full breath. And...

2: They want you to control your abdominal muscles as they compress your belly during exhalation. This is so that you have a nice, smooth and powerful singing voice!"¹

I've copied that concise description from the page linked below just to check what I was taught 40-odd years ago. I can (and do) control my chest walls/ribs. It makes a surprisingly large difference. my abdomen/diaphragm is below the break in my back but my lungs still respond to my making myself keep breathing in. Good luck

😤😺

¹https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/sizum/whats_the_difference_between_breathing_from_your/

chiarieds

As I used to teach diaphragmatic breathing as a physio student in both ante-natal classes & at the start & end of all back pain classes, I think this shows the wide range in which this can be helpful.

Having suffered chronic daily pain myself now for years, I can feel the importance of it personally as it helps reduce stress & also pain, & is something we all should practice, which is why I've mentioned it before on the forum!

It's breathing in the same way that babies & young children automatically do.

https://www.cheshire-epaige.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Diaphragmatic-breathing-techniques.pdf

Biblioklept

I knew you would know about it @chiarieds as I remember you mentioning it before, it's amazing it's taught in ante-natal and back pain classes too!! I've found it really meditative and grounding, hopefully when I fully get to grips with it itll help with a few more of my issues aswell!

That's a great way to approach it @theme79, I always spend appointments thinking I'll remember everything and do for a day or so and then barely even remember attending 😅I think making my own files and documenting it is a good idea

@bookrabbit that's incredible it's helped you so much!! I never feel like I'm doing these things right but I do feel more relaxed and like I'm breathing better after doing it for a few breaths

Oooh I didn't even think of choirs and singing it makes sense people are taught it to breathe/sing better @Littlefatfriend! Its so good you've been able to find a way that works for you still too

❤️❤️❤️

chiarieds

@Littlefatfriend every year we (Dame Allan's Girls School) went to Newcastle Cathedral to hear the Christmas Carol service there; I don't know if that tradition continued.

@theme79 - one of my constant gripes/mutterings is that so often there's not a holistic approach with healthcare. Oh, to get all specialists (who may be at the top of their pinnacle but can't sometimes see beyond it), in one room & actually talk to each other!

I had a lovely rheumatologist who was frustrated in that I'd already seen a neurologist & neurosurgeons in his hospital (to whom he'd normally have then referred me), but who had proved absolutely unhelpful, & he believed me. He decided to give me a neurological exam which showed that part of my problems had to be a central nervous system problem & they affected all of my limbs. Unfortunately he didn't write a letter confirming this, & I can understand this, as I was then postulating that 2 certain disorders had to be associated, but it gave me the confidence to continue to independently research my family's problems, & I got there in the end.

If a consultant hadn't already said they would send me a copy of any letter to my GP, I always requested these, & in some instances was asked to correct them by a consultant before they were sent them to my GP.

It's pretty bad that many of us have to advocate for ourselves. My youngest granddaughter has just seen a consultant today, who won't take on board that her very low blood pressure is commonly found in our family's genetic disorder, & is looking for far, far less likely causes. The uphill battle just seems to continue!

I have had to continuingly advocate for my daughter & grandchildren, & my daughter has been successful in getting some GPs & consultants to phone me as she struggles with explaining our family's medical history.

With apologies for my rant @Biblioklept - back to 'diaphragmatic breathing,' if you've ever felt panicked/stressed you might find you tend to raise your shoulders & concentrate on your upper airway breathing. Diaphragmatic breathing is imagining you are filling a balloon of air lower down, which is why you place one hand on your chest & one lower down. You don't push your stomach area up, just imagine it as a balloon infilling with air. Don't count breathes in or out either, just breathe in your natural rhythm, as I feel counting is unhelpful (which some sites advocate).

Littlefatfriend

Ooh chiarieds, Dame Allan's?

The posh skule???

I was never part of that apartheid but a few of the guys in the choir went there. We were all male.

You just taught me that there's also a Dame Allan's Girl's skule, thanks.

Please, how was that for you? I can't begin to imagine.

Five or so years I sang those Christmas carols, boxing day night. Bless my parents for helping me.

Roughly 1979-1985

😇

chiarieds

Well I won a bursary to attend Dame Allan's Girls School, & girls hadn't perhaps been considered with some aspects that might be important to them.

I wanted to go to Dame Allan's School as they, at that time, had innovatively built a Physics lab, so felt they might help me in pursuing a medical career.

I studied Latin, which I had to take a year early at GCSE level (& also Greek for some reason); again thinking what might be helpful in a medical career,

Well I had an English teacher, who happened to be Welsh, say I ought to pursue a career in journalism as I happened to be good at English (& Geography). She did signpost me to a University in Wales where I could do a conversion course for 5 years before beginning a medical career.

I decided to pursue looking at physiotherapy instead, as I didn't want to leave home as my Mum had terminal cancer by then. I have no regrets, other than wishing I could counter some Dr's misinfirmatiom; I usually can as far as my family's medical history goes.

I think my background, including my education, helped shape me.

Component react.suggestedcontent had an error.

The value must be greater than or equal to 1.

Sign in or register for free

Get more out of your online community by signing in or registering