Course Description:

"Breathing Essentials: Respiration and the Impact on Health, Posture, Pain, Movement and Performance.
Breathing Essentials is a comprehensive examination of the function of breathing on the human body and actions for management of dysfunction. The information presented in this seminar series ultimately will be become necessary tools for the clinician, in the recognizing and development of strategies for alleviating Breathing Pattern Disorders. It is imperative that normal breathing patterns are regained and maintained for spine health and overall patient wellbeing.
Series Description:
How does the way we breathe alter multiple systems of the body and how is the core connected to how we breathe?
These are some of the questions that will be answered in this in-depth seminar on respiration and its ultimate effects on the core and multiple body systems.
The Thorax is a vital component in spinal function. It is the center of trunk rotation and the center of respiration. The Thorax is a prime base for muscle and fascial connections that affect the cervical and lumbo/pelvic regions. When the respiratory system is in dysfunction, it can alter the function of the thorax, the body's physiology, trunk control and ultimately ideal movement. The diaphragm plays a vital role in posture and respiration. It has intimate connections, muscularly and neurologically with the lumbar spine, abdominals and pelvic floor, which contributes to the diaphragm's ability to maintain intra-abdominal pressure, a fundamental role in spinal stability.
Altered breathing patterns brought on by life, stress, pain and injury can alter the biochemistry of the blood system and produce negative effects on the health of the body. Faulty breathing patterns are rarely looked at as being a possible cause of spinal dysfunctions as well as propagating continued pain patterns in fibromyalgia, chronic pelvic and chest pain, gut pain and chronic fatigue. Sleep apnea is also being recognized as a significant factor in accidents, mood disorders and cardiovascular disease. In the acute care realm, the diaphragm is now being studied extensively due to the dysfunction that occurs with mechanical ventilation utilized in surgeries, injury and disease. Functional knowledge of the respiratory system, thorax anatomy and biomechanics and how it integrates with functional core stability will enable the student to connect and integrate the functional thorax into whole body mechanics.
Videos in this seminar will deal with rib mechanics, rib decompression, breathing programs, examination and treatment that can be utilized with almost all musculoskeletal patients including performance athletes as well as critically ill patients.
Dysfunction of the respiratory complex, trunk muscular imbalances, muscular inhibition and weakness, myofascial restrictions, loss of axial rotation and chronic hyperventilation, all have significant effects on posture, trunk stability, chronic pain, upper extremity and lower extremity function and motion. This seminar series will enable the student to connect the negative effects of dysfunction of respiration to specific pathologies and generate answers on the management of these pathologies.