You do this 26,000 times a day
And you are doing it without even thinking about it. Breathing. Could you imagine doing deadlifts incorrectly 26,000 times a day. Even the thought brings injury to mind, right? Yet everyday most every adult, unless they know this secret, is continuously reinforcing a faulty breathing pattern. In a nutshell, it means that we are breathing in the wrong pattern 

Why is this happening to us?
I'm sharing my own theory here. If you have young children around you from the age of being born to around 14-years of age then you'll notice when they breath they almost exclusively breath through the abdomen with minimal to no movement of the shoulders. For whatever reason though as we become adolescents we begin to switch our breathing pattern. Is it because we are taught to keep our 'stomachs in' or so body conscious we don't allow our belly to fully relax as we once did? Who knows for sure but these are my insights from over a decade in treating this common faulty motor pattern.

Is it such a big deal?
Naturally when we need more oxygen into the body we need to use every muscle available to help take that extra air into the lungs. However, the vast majority of our day should be more at rest when the additional muscles are not required. At this time, it should be just our diaphragm movement that is sufficient to fulfill our oxygen requirements. Yet I have just shared with you that most of us are not doing this when at rest. This means that over time, 26,000 times a day for many years, it can and will lead to the following common postures and/or injury symptoms:

- Forward head posture
- Thoracic Outlet Syndrome - including arm numbness and tingling
- Reduced range of motion (ROM) of neck, shoulder and thoracic spine
- Altered alignment of the cervical vertebrae
- Symptoms mimicking Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
- Digestive disruption - due to a lack of massaging naturally induced when breathing correctly.
 - Headaches, migraines, vision and vestibular issues.

So in summary, as your massage therapist, I say yes it is a big deal that only gets bigger over time if ignored!

What to do about it?
Watch this 5-minute video and immediately start putting it into action!

Be Healthy,
Jason.