Breathing and pH

We talked earlier that breathing is very important for pH. It is one of the two acid eliminating systems of the body. So let’s talk about issues dealing with breathing. Many people think they breathe great or know how to breathe. In my office I usually find almost everyone has some sort of impairment with breathing.

Ribs

As you may know you have ribs that surround your lungs. They are very much important for protection of the lungs but they do so much more. They are also there for movement. It is this movement of the first six ribs that sends information into the vital centers of the brain. Which helps to control your breathing rate and your heart rate, sounds important? But, from a biomechanical point full movement is required to get a full breath.

So, how do you know if you have a breathing problem and how do you fix it?

• Do you feel constriction when you breathe, or when you breathe deep? I am suppressed at the amount of people who have had a problem for so long they no longer feel restriction in their breath. Another question would be: do you feel that you cannot take a full breath in or breath like you used to? All signs of restriction.
• Have you had any trauma to the body/ribs? According to OSHA the average child has had about 1,000 traumas through childhood. So for many people this is a resounding yes. Have you played any contact sports? Have you been in any car accidents? Do you consistently sleep on your side? All will torque the ribs and prevent full excursion of the ribs.
• Do you have any muscular imbalances? Look at your posture. If your head is not over your shoulders and/or your shoulders roll in then you have this. This is also very common. Unfortunately the majority of our lifestyle pushes us in this direction so it takes a while to undo.

There are a ton of problems you can have with breathing. The best thing you can do is to find a program that works with breathing and/or find some people for your health team that know how to work with this. Here are a couple resources that you may want to consider.

• Chiropractor: chiropractors are the only profession/modality that addresses subluxation. When looking at trauma or construction of the ribs there is almost always subluxation of the ribs. No one else is trained on how to do this. Chiropractors usually know how to work with muscle imbalances and other areas that have a constricting effect on your breath and breathing
• Breathing program: This would be for breath reprogramming. You can find people who work with meditation, some martial arts, The Art of Living to name a few. The one that I prefer is called Somato Respiratory Integration. You can find an introduction into this through a book called the 12 stages of healing. One thing to be careful of is that in some of the cases they are retraining the breath for a different goal. So you may need a couple of these programs to fully retrain the breath.
• Up and coming! We are looking at releasing a basic alkaline breath work package. We are looking at audio, video and an eBook to go with it. We are still in the production stages so please be patient with us. Ideally we are looking at an end of the year launch for this program. Please keep in contact with us for details.

Here is a bit of information about breath and alkalizing the body. Stay tuned for more information on breath and how to use it to alkalize the body.

Live Well
Dr. Joseph DuChene