breathing exercises Archives

Being a strength coach and a manual therapist has given me a different perspective on how important it truly is to assess athletes for structural and functional limitations and address them before they become serious injuries and surgeries. Exercises that revolve around optimizing breathing patterns have become a big piece of that equation for me over the last few years. Despite being a “soft” training modality, these strategies can have a significant impact on sport performance. Below are 5 major ways that breathing can affect sport.

1) Improving Joint Range of Motion
Different activities require different ranges of motion (obviously), and different sports have different joints that tend to get looked at more than others. For example, the idea of a shoulder internal rotation deficit in baseball pitchers has received a lot of attention over the last decade, which lead to the popularization of the “sleeper stretch” to help improve IR. Interestingly, you can lay the athlete down on the floor, teach them to engage their left abdominal wall to help pull their ribs down while they cycle a few breaths in through their nose and out their mouth and right shoulder IR will improve tremendously (often times 15-30 degrees). A similar approach can be used to restore hip adduction and symmetry in hip rotation range of motion. The question then becomes “do these athletes need to stretch?” Simply, if you can get the desirable range of motion in 30s of breathing, then you probably don’t need to stretch. The range of motion was limited because of the position of the pelvis and thorax, NOT because of a limitation in the shoulder. Using specific breathing exercises can restore neutrality to the pelvis and thorax allowing the expression of the available range of motion.

[quicktime]http://www.kevinneeld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/PRI-All-Four-Right-AIC-Respiratory-Crawl.mp4[/quicktime]This is a breathing exercise from the Postural Restoration Institute that I use a lot to elicit rapid changes in shoulder and hip range of motion.2) More optimal movement patterns
When an athlete starts in a non-neutral position, their range of motion will be limited in predictable ways. This is an idea I’ve talked about a lot in the past (See: Managing Structural and Functional Asymmetries in Ice Hockey: Part 1 and Part 2). Attempting to perform any sporting movement that passes through the positional end range limit will lead to a compensatory pattern. It’s interesting to work with athletes that are aware of these compensations. For example, I recently spoke to a pro baseball pitcher who said he felt like his hips hit a certain point during his delivery where they’d shift to the side, which was limiting his power. Not surprisingly, our assessment found he lacked IR on that front leg, meaning he would hit end range and then shift laterally as a strategy to still deliver the ball to the plate. Using breathing-driven exercises to help restore neutrality frees up range of motion (as mentioned above), which can then be incorporated into functional movements. This is one of the reasons I often tell skill coaches that my job is to make their life easier!

3) Decreased injury risk
Injuries are a tricky thing. There is a lot that goes into what predisposes an athlete to specific injuries and what strategies should be targeted to help decrease his or her risk. That said, muscles that are poorly positioned to do their job, fatigue, and poor recovery are three factors that are hard to ignore. The latter two will be discussed next, so I’ll just address the first. As I’ve alluded to above, positional breathing can help restore the pelvis to a neutral position and therefore unlock range of motion and restore the surrounding muscles to a more optimal position to do their jobs. By tying in specific exercises with respiration, you’re able to groove a better motor pattern and help reinforce more optimal function. As an example, a lot of athletes suffer from left groin pain secondary to being in a position of flexion/abduction/external rotation and either attempting to push further into abduction/external rotation and/or attempting to use a long, neurologically weak adductor group. This position also leads to a descending anterior pelvic floor and ascended posterior pelvic floor. In other words, the anterior pelvic floor is in an “inhalation” position, and the posterior pelvic floor is in an “exhalation” position. Using an exercise like the Right Side Lying Left Adductor Pulback below allows the athlete to restore their pelvis to a neutral position, and engage their left adductors in a shorted position to help restore motor control in this range. By pulling the femur back on the inhale, the athlete can also “open up” their posterior hip capsule, helping to shift this into more of an inhalation state. By pulling the left knee down into the right leg upon exhalation, the athlete can “close down” their anterior pelvic floor, helping to shift this into more of an exhalation state, ultimately improving the ability of the pelvis to move reciprocally from a neutral position during the various phases of respiration.

[quicktime]http://www.kevinneeld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/PRI-Right-Side-Lying-Left-Adductor-Pullback.mp4[/quicktime]4) Delaying fatigue through changes in pH
pH is a significant factor in dictating the efficacy of muscle contraction. During high intensity activity, when the demands of the activity cannot be fully met by aerobic metabolism, pH levels lower as hydrogen ions accumulate as a byproduct of glycolytic metabolism. With this in mind, utilizing optimal breathing patterns, while still activity appropriate (as I mentioned here: Chest Breathing vs. Belly Breathing), can help maximize air exchange and therefore either delay the point at which metabolism changes to primary anaerobic processes and/or help facilitate a more rapid restoration following a high intensity effort.

Admittedly, making the leap that stationary breathing exercises will improve sport conditioning is confounded by a lot of factors. That said, I always come back to the idea that if an athlete does not possess the positioning, mobility, core control, and diaphragm power to hit a few sets of quality breaths in a somewhat static, relatively quiet environment, it’s extremely unlikely they’ll be able to do so while in competition. In other words, by removing the confounding factors we have a more realistic window to assess and train a pattern, as we do with all aspects of human performance that is then available to the individual to utilize in their sport.

5) Shifting into a parasympathetic state quickly following activity
I get a lot of questions about how I incorporate PRI or breathing exercises into a team setting. One of the methods that we use breathing for is to help elicit a shift toward a more parasympathetic state following training sessions and sometimes following practices if I’m at the rink. Hyperinflation is associated with a more sympathetic state, so providing an opportunity for the athletes to lay down, exhale fully, and inhale calmly can quickly shift them more parasympathetically. This also highlights why optimizing breathing patterns can have a profound impact on everyday life; if we’re living life in a constant state of unwarranted sympathetic tone because of the breathing stereotype we use, we’re tapping into a lot of “fight or flight” resources that could be better utilized when we actually need them. This idea of facilitating a faster recovery is one of the main selling points I use in a team setting. More specifically, I let our athletes know that it will help them fall asleep faster at night. In hockey, as I suspect in many sports, a lot of games finish fairly late and players are amped up afterward. Despite getting home at 10-11pm, many won’t fall asleep until after 1. Using this strategy has helped a lot of our players “dim the lights”, so to speak, both physically and mentally and fall asleep faster.

Despite these concepts being presented separately, they are all very interrelated. All of the body’s systems influence one another. Simply, breathing exercises can be used to improve range of motion, joint stability, air exchange, and recovery from training. As a strength and conditioning coach, these are all things that can positively influence the athletes and clients we work with, which is why breathing exercises have become a mainstay in our programs.

To your success,

Kevin Neeld
OptimizingMovement.com
UltimateHockeyTraining.com

P.S. If you’re interested in understanding how position can influence respiration, range of motion, injury patterns, and the training process, check out my new DVD set Optimizing Movement, which has received rave reviews from professionals in rehabilitation and training settings!

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A couple months ago I came across Carson Boddicker’s site and was blown away. He’s a really bright coach and has a lot of unique ideas about training athletes. I asked him to write something for you on the importance of developing proper breathing patterns, which is probably the most overlooked aspects of sports performance training and can have a huge impact on your health and performance.

Enter Carson:

Breathing is a critical piece of the movement equation and is one that has been almost ignored until recently. Many people simply breathe, and call it “good” if they do not suffocate, unfortunately this is far too simplistic as there is a “right” and a “wrong” way to breathe.

Unfortunately, we know that the majority of people fall toward the “wrong” way and incorrect breathing patterns lead to a gamut of movement dysfunctions. Improper breathing can lead to dysfunction as high as the TMJ (though some osteopathic physicians see proper breathing as having a mobilizing effect on the skull) and as low as the hips. In between, breathing plays a powerful role in cervical posture, carpal function, shoulder health, thoracic spine mobility, and lumbo-pelvic-hip stability via intra-abdominal pressure mechanisms. Better control at the pelvis, leads to more favorable mechanics of the joints above and below, making breathing a powerful ally in preventing lower extremity injury common in hockey players like sports hernia and athletic pubalgia. Restoration of proper breathing patterns can reduce tone in the majority of cervical muscles, aid in the reduction of forward head posture, and reduce tone of the hip flexors.

The biochemical effects of hyperventilation have powerful effects on fascial constriction and there are primary and/or accessory muscles in each and every fascial line presented by Thomas Myers. As we understand from the concept of tensegrity, it then stands to reason that breathing limitations alter all fascial lines, and ultimately lead to movement dysfunction. One could go as far as to say that due to the relationship between the obliques and intercostals of the lateral line, improper breathing can result in reduced function of the “anterior X” that controls and produces torque, and subsequently running, walking, and skating mechanics can be altered. An inability to check torques appropriately though the LPH complex is yet another risk factor for hockey related hip and groin dysfunction.

Proper breathing certainly provides great benefit to the athlete, is inimitable, and is of huge benefit to a vast array of movement dysfunction. Thus, there is little question that breathing must be a core competency. As the great neurologist Karel Lewit said, “If breathing is not normalized, no other movement pattern can be.”

So how does one go about normalizing breathing patterns as Dr. Lewit suggests?

First, before we go about correcting anything, we need to understand if something needs to be corrected at all.

Proper breathing involves the diaphragm contracting to compress the abdominal cavity, making more space for the lungs to expand. The best way to assess this is simply have the athlete in a seated position, palpate the lower ribs, the sides of the abdomen, and the iliac crest, and have him breath. Ideally, the athlete will expand his ribs into your hand with minimal elevation of the ribcage until late in the breathing cycle if at all. If he is unable to do so in seated, I suggest regression to supine positions (like in the first exercise below.

Once the player’s breathing proficiencies are identified, proper correction can commence.

I typically begin my athletes’ training at level where they first demonstrated poor patterns. If patterns look good in supine, but not prone, I will start them in prone. If they look fine in prone, but not seated, then training begins in seated positions, etc. Below are a few of my favorite breathing exercises.

Supine breathing is a great first step for many and can be progressed quickly. Ideally the bottom hand will rise vertically, and the top hand will demonstrate minimal movement.

Once the supine breathing is well patterned, I often progress to prone prayer position to work on facilitating posterior and lateral ribcage expansion. According to physical therapist Diane Lee, she finds posterio-lateral expansion to be most restricted in those with lumbo-pelvic-hip dysfunction like SIJ pain, groin strains, and sports hernia. It is one of the harder positions to master, so providing some feedback by springing on the posterior rib cage at the end of expiration and cuing the athlete to “breathe into my hands” often help solidify patterns.

While there are some exercises designed simply to focus upon breathing and breathing only, it is critical to be able to breathe effectively thorough an abdominal brace, so I challenge athletes in a number of positions and exercises that are traditionally seen as “rotational stability” and “anterior core” exercises. One of my current favorites is the breathing bench dog with hip flexion as it provides a great rotational stability demand, is lower level, and the contraction of the psoas develops a strong fixed point for diaphragmatic contraction.

Remember as with all we do as coaches, we should be constantly assessing and thinking about ways to help our athletes succeed. Understanding, coaching, and integrating breathing pattern work is no exception.

Best regards,
Carson Boddicker
www.BoddickerPerformance.com

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5 Ways Breathing Affects Sport Performance

Developing Proper Breathing Patterns