The poor air quality, due to the recent wildfires, coupled with prolonged mask-wearing because of the coronavirus, has made it difficult for many people to breathe easily. We want to help you breathe better and feel your best.
Forward head posture also is a culprit when it comes to breathing difficulties. Just look around and you’ll see people with their heads looking down at their cell phones or other digital devices more than ever. That specific posture may decrease lung function-what we call vital capacity-by up to 30%.
Correcting the structure of the spine helps people breathe better. Why? When your head comes forward, it creates decreased motion in the upper six ribs. When that happens, the lungs can’t fully expand properly. Therefore you can’t get the big deep breath that we need to pump oxygen throughout the body.
Regarding sinuses, the upper cervical spine is crucial to the overall drainage and plumbing coming from the eyes, ears, nose and throat. When you have upper cervical subluxation or tension in the upper neck, it can create a backup of fluid in the ears and/or sinus cavities in the cranium, leading to different problems.
We see a lot of patients with sinus and asthma issues because they’re unable to take big deep breaths. Again, wearing the masks for many hours a day also makes breathing a challenge.
In addition to correcting subluxations, it’s important to get more motion back into the spine. You may have heard the expression, “motion is lotion,” so the more motion you have in the spine, the more you’re feeding the brain positive input.
More motion will bring you out of the forward flexion position and back into the extension position. We do some very specific warm-up exercises using a wobble disc and cervical traction before a patient’s adjustment to elicit this very important motion back into the spine.
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