What Are the Breathing Muscles?

Respiratory muscles refer to the muscles related to breathing exercises, including intercostal muscles, diaphragm muscles, abdominal wall muscles, sternocleidomastoid muscles, back muscle groups, chest muscle groups, etc. The breathing methods include abdominal breathing and lip shrinking breathing.

Respiratory muscles

Respiratory muscles include intercostal, diaphragm and abdominal wall muscles.

Inspiratory muscle: diaphragm muscle + intercostal external muscle;

Exhalation muscle: intercostal muscle + abdominal wall muscle;

Diaphragm: When inhaled, the diaphragm contracts, the diaphragm is lowered, and the thorax is enlarged; when the breath is exhaled, the diaphragm is relaxed, the diaphragm is raised, and the chest is reduced.

Intercostal external muscles: During inhalation, the intercostal external muscles contract, the ribs move upward and outward, and the volume increases; when exhaling, the intercostal external muscles relax, the ribs move downward and inward, and the volume decreases ...

During calm breathing, inhalation is active breathing, which is caused by contraction of the diaphragm and intercostal external muscles; exhalation is passive breathing, which is caused by relaxation of the diaphragm and intercostal external muscles.

In a certain intensity of exercise, both inhalation and exhalation are active breathing.

Thoracic changes during breathing. Inhale: Expand; Exhale: Reduce.

The volume and pressure of the lungs during breathing.

Inhalation: the lungs dilate, the volume becomes larger, and the external air pressure is greater than the internal air pressure;

Exhalation: The lungs retract, the volume becomes smaller, and the external air pressure is less than the internal air pressure.

Auxiliary respiratory muscles

When you inhale hard,

Static Breathing: Sitting, with one hand on the chest and one hand on the chest, for abdominal breathing, that is, the abdomen is lifted when inhaled, and the abdomen is closed when exhaled.

Dynamic breathing of the trunk: sitting position, inhaling naturally, leaning forward when exhaling, and hands falling naturally.

Pressurized breathing: sitting position, with both arms abducted during inhalation, and arms embracing to the thorax and lowering the head when exhaling.

Smooth breathing: Sit with your hands on your hips and your back against the back of your chair. Relax your shoulder straps and body muscles and perform breathing exercises smoothly.

Breathing with chest compressions: sitting, holding both arms up and inhaling, hands on hips, thumbs facing backwards, the remaining four fingers pressing against the bottom of the ribs, leaning forward to breathe.

Respiratory movements of the limbs: sitting, inhaling with both hands flat, one leg flexing to the abdomen, and exhaling with both hands around.

Walking and breathing: take two steps to inhale once, then take five steps to exhale once.

Relaxation: Take a sitting or lying position, with the jaw slightly retracted, slightly closed eyes, and breathe naturally. When you exhale, meditate on "Song", from head to face to shoulders to chest and abdomen to lower back and lower limbs. Say "loose" 3 to 4 times at each part, and finally to the lungs and trachea, say "loosely" 10 times. The above relaxation exercises are repeated 3 times from the whole body to the shoulders, for a total of about 10-15 minutes.

Internal Yang Gong: Practice internal Yang Gong on the basis of the above relaxation exercises, that is, to guide Dan Tian plus abdominal breathing, to highlight the abdomen when inhaling, and to retract the abdomen when exhaling, consciously slowing the breathing rate, Breath should be short and exhalation should be long. Do this every 15 minutes.

In addition, China-Japan Friendship Hospital and other units have explored other methods of breathing gymnastics through clinical practice, and have achieved good clinical results.

Respiratory gymnastic exercises should be selected in a spacious, bright, fresh and quiet place. During the exercise, you should concentrate. Respiratory gymnastics is mainly based on breathing exercises. Through breathing exercises, the frequency of breathing muscles is increased, the activity of diaphragm muscles is increased, the function of ventilation is improved, and the role of improving physical health is achieved.

Master the three types of respiratory muscle exercises, and the advantages and disadvantages of each specific exercise method.

Effective respiratory muscle exercise can significantly enhance the muscle strength and endurance of respiratory muscles, improve exercise capacity, and prevent it in combination with other rehabilitation treatments

The principles of skeletal muscle exercise also apply to respiratory muscle exercises, and they are receiving increasing attention. There are 3 main principles of skeletal muscle exercise:

Respiratory muscle overload

Refers to the exercise of muscles under a load greater than what they can usually withstand, to increase the function by challenging the limits of their abilities;

Respiratory muscle specific

Means that exercise should be specifically guided according to the functional properties of muscles, such as strength exercises and endurance exercises requiring different exercise routines;

Respiratory muscle reversible ability

The effect of exercise is temporary and reversible.

Strength exercises mainly affect fast-shrinking fibers, while endurance exercises affect slow-shrinking fibers. Strength exercises cause the number and thickness of muscle filaments to increase, increase protein synthesis and decrease decomposition, resulting in muscle fiber hypertrophy. Endurance exercise results in an increase in the number and volume of muscle mitochondria, an increase in energy-releasing enzymes and electron transfer capabilities in the muscle plasma, and an increase in muscle blood circulation and oxidative metabolism. Similar adaptive changes may occur in the respiratory muscles. Respiratory muscle exercise increases the percentage of diaphragmatic anti-fatigue fibers. For respiratory muscle exercises that increase vital capacity, emphasis is placed on strength exercises, but endurance exercises cannot be ignored.

Spirometry

There are many ways to exercise your vital capacity. Here are three of them.

Method one: Do some freehand exercises such as chest expansion and arm vibration. Method two: Durable running practice. Pay attention to regular, running and breathing coordination, proper distance, and not too strong. Method 3 Practice diving or swimming. In the water, not only does the arm continuously stroke, but also overcomes the resistance of water to breathe. It is a good way to increase lung capacity. There are many ways to exercise to increase your vital capacity: playing football, playing basketball, running back, etc. Can also go to a professional hospital to use professional equipment to do respiratory muscle exercises. It is important to note that no matter which method you choose, you must practice it regularly to be effective.

The mechanisms of the above exercises are: increase the strength of the respiratory muscles, improve the elasticity of the lungs, increase the depth of breathing, deepen, and improve and improve the efficiency and function of lung breathing, so as to achieve the purpose of increasing the vital capacity detection value.