Do you experience neck pain on a regular basis? Or maybe you have been dealing with headaches or upper trap issues. Or maybe it’s a rib that keeps going out? I recently made a visit to one of my remote training clients, Wendy. Wendy and I have been working together for over a year now, and she has made amazing progress, but it wasn’t until our most recent visit that we made a BIG discovery.
Wendy has dealt with upper rib issues for quite some time. Her rib heads are regularly pulled out of place, and despite our best efforts (including health from a licensed healthcare practitioner), we haven’t seen a resolution of these symptoms. It wasn’t until today that I assessed her neck muscles upon inhalation (breathing in). As you can see by the before photo, Wendy was using a TON of neck muscles when she was inhaling. The neck muscle should be relaxed during breathing, but hers were flexing like a biceps under load. What this told us is that she was using small accessory muscles to do the heavy lifting of pulling her ribcage into a position where she could get air in. When these muscles pull the ribcage up, they also pull the spine out of a stable position leading to the potential of shoulder, neck, and upper rib issues (both on the front and the backside).
Once we saw what was going on, we worked on a more relaxed inhalation strategy, and getting more ribcage expansion than translation upward. In Wendy’s words, “It feels like I can’t get as much air in!” And that’s exactly what we are looking for for now. As she learns to keep the neck relaxed when breathing in, it will drive air 360 degrees throughout her ribcage, alleviating the need for her neck to kick on every time she breaths. I’ll keep you posted on Wendy’s progress!
If you are saying to yourself, “I have those same problems!” It’s time to fix them! Click the link below to book an assessment today.