Z Health

I had a Z Health session today with Andrea Chang RKC. I have had some more then annoying issues with my right knee and wanted to spend some time getting things corrected and stay corrected.
Movements we worked on:
-Closed chain knee circles in lunge positions
-Hip circles in rehab positions
-Thoracic A/P glides in lunge position, front/back 45 degree turn
-Ankle tilts
-3 position toe pulls

Also need to retrain on breathing. There is a great article by Dr. Cobb on this but his newsletter is coming up "page not found" at this time. So I will post what I have saved in a old email for now. I am actually using a straw a few times a day and just really trying to remind myself of pelvic floor breathing while, driving, sitting, standing etc.


Here is a quick test to determine if you might be breathing paradoxically:
The High-Low Test

1. Sit comfortably in a nice tall posture.
2. Place one hand on your upper abdomen and the other on your upper chest.
3. Inhale and exhale 5 times.
4. During inhalation look for these three signs of paradoxical breathing:

-The upper hand moves first.

- The upper hand moves upward toward the chin rather than slightly forward.

- The upper hand moves significantly more than the hand on the abdomen.

If any of these things occur, it strongly suggests an upper-chest pattern of breathing or paradoxical breathing. Over the course of a year, you will take over 8,000,000 breaths and if most of them are paradoxical, you are asking for trouble! So what do you do? For many of our R-Phase clients, we begin their breathing training with this simple exercise:

Straw Breathing

This easy to perform drill is one of the best ways to strengthen your breathing muscles and retrain your respiration. The "target" of this drill is to focus on a slow, controlled exhale, breathing out through pursed lips. This is similar to blowing air through a straw. Here are the steps in order:

1. Sit or stand in a comfortable long spine position.
2. Place one hand on your abdomen and the other on the chest to monitor for correct movement.
3. Breathe in slowly through the nose for two seconds.
4. Slowly breathe out through pursed lips for 4-8 seconds.
5. Build up to 30-40 repetitions, twice per day.

As you practice this regularly, your breathing will improve dramatically which will have a fantastic impact on your entire body over the course of time. Give this a try and let us know your results, or if we can help you in any way.

Keep Moving,

Dr. Cobb