(Quote is tattooed on my Left thigh)
“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, an hour, a day or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take it’s place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever” -Lance Armstrong
As a new therapist, I had patients run through advanced exercises, without focusing on something as simple as breathing, and honestly, I did not see the results I see now.
I have been fascinated with the human body since I was a child. I found my real passion in this life, by “falling into” a perfect career for me. It sounded good when I was deciding what to do with the rest of my life, and I’m glad I chose this path. I’m an outpatient manual physical therapist specializing in orthopedics. My friends know me as the guy who gets excited talking about why parts of the body do what they do, and the guy with apps on his phone of human anatomy (I have been caught studying on the beach in Puerto Rico)
One part of therapy which has been increasingly interesting to me is the behavior of pain over time. I have been researching and experimenting with ways to treat pain when it has been labeled as “chronic”. Without going into the overwhelming details, many changes occur in the brain/spinal cord over time and the body acts quite differently when pain has been experienced by a person for a long time (as soon as a few months, to as long as decades). This actually leads to real physical changes which alter the way the body reacts to otherwise harmless stimuli.
One way the body changes is the way it naturally breathes. For a person not experiencing pain (stress can be substituted as “pain” ;)), breathing will follow a “normal” pattern, recruiting muscles which actually hold pressure around the back and abdominal cavity as well as filling/emptying the lungs. When pain persists, the muscles start going haywire. Those muscles which function in respiratory (or breathing) function, as well as hold support in the spine will actually get “turned off”. With this, you recruit other muscles, which are normally not used for normal breathing. These muscles get tired, and aren’t able to support the joints of the body, allowing more of an “injury” to occur. This begins the viscous cycle.
When you breathe in more shallow, and frequent breaths, you are stimulating the sympathetic nervous system which is known as the “fight or flight” response of the body. With this, the body is always on the defense. Muscles become more tense as if you were preparing for a fight. Imagine feeling as if you’ll be attacked any time for every waking minute. This is what your body feels like in this mode! With less frequent and deeper breaths, you kick into your parasympathetic system which is your “relaxed” system. This system is much more preferred for your body for the long run and should be used much, much more than sympathetic nervous system). With this system, the body is able to go about it’s normal functions such as digestion (wait, breathing can affect how my body digests food? YEP!). Also, heart rate and blood pressure are lowered, putting less wear and tear on the body. Meditation and deep breathing are also linked with increased Serotonin and endorphin production (your body’s natural “happy chemicals”). This explains why you feel so good!
A way to change this cycle is to work on breathing. It sounds simple, but when the body has been substituting different muscles for something you do involuntarily thousands of times a day, it becomes normal wiring to the brain, and causes the muscles which have been “turned off” to become weak. I’ll start with simply working on diaphragmatic breathing patterns and decreasing upper trap activity (in other words, breathing from the belly, and not shrugging the shoulders). When the patient begins breathing efficiently, I add other ways to challenge the breathing pattern, and eventually return to normal, functional movements.
Depending on patient population and how open to ideas they appear, I will even have a patient work on meditation as part of their treatment. The results are amazing. People explain that they feel more relaxed throughout the day in addition to having a reduction in pain. By simply incorporating a daily breathing/meditation session and focusing on being in the moment, the high paced and stressful ways of work and the day have less of an impact on them.
I began attending yoga as a new therapist and was amazed at how relaxed I began feeling. I found I could naturally breathe deeper, which also made me a more efficient runner. I am able to control pain and stress by following simple breathing exercises or meditation. I also feel more “in the moment” which helps me appreciate the little things and helps my practice as a physical therapist. It’s amazing the effect something so simple can have.
About the author:
Greg Hartman
Greg completed his Doctor of Physical Therapy degree in 2012 from the University at Buffalo. Since then, he has studied different manual techniques and taken a wide variety of classes including running mechanics, pain, and hands-on techniques. He continues to have a strong hunger to learn more and grow as a therapist. In his free time he competes in races, more recently getting involved in triathlons. Greg explains running, biking and being outdoors brings him to a calm state in which he can “breathe easier”
Email: ghartman@osptgroup.com
Leave a Reply