Spinal thought 202. Many websites about breathing and running or singing talk about how the diaphragm is a muscle and like all muscles need to be strengthened. I have also seen research papers into the affect of serious conditions such as MND (motor neuron disease) looking at the way the diaphragm becomes weaker. However, in most healthy normal people the diaphragm continues to work with every breath and is not in particular need of being made stronger. Instead we should look at what we do with out body use as a whole, with our postural habits that prevent the breathing muscles from working efficiently. Some discuss the role the diaphragm play in posture and ‘core stabilization’. One study I came across looked at 18 patients with ‘chronic low back pain due to overloading’ and compared them with 29 healthy subjects. (Postural Function of the Diaphragm in Persons with and Without Chronic Low Back Pain, Professor Kolar et.al.) The findings were that patients with chronic low back pain appear to have an abnormal position and a steeper slope of the diaphragm. The findings were consistent with the hypothesis that that abnormal activation of the diaphragm may serve as an underlying mechanism of chronic low back pain. They suggested that lack of diaphragmatic activation led to excessive activation of the superficial paraspinal lumbar muscles and eventually to hyperlordosis. I can’t help wondering if it is the low back pain that has caused the state of the diaphragm, or if the state of the diaphragm has contributed to the low back pain, or if poor postural use (e.g. collapse forward and rounding of the upper back, slumping and shortening and distorting the whole torso) has led to both the low back pain and the abnormality in the diaphragm.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 12:44:46 +0000
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