Backaches and Breathing

 In a raffle at the Suppers Program celebration of Dor's birthday, I won a couple of free sessions with Deborah, a physical therapist. Her specialities included working with people with neurological issues, so I threw my ticket in the jar and voila! She came to my house yesterday.


I believe I got some valuable information. Mainly we talked. She asked if I swim. Yes, not much, but I do swim in the salt water pool at the gym. She suggested that I especially try swimming on my back and kicking my legs from the hip joint instead of the little flutter kick I usually do. She mentioned several times that the full extension of the leg is an important factor in exercise for flexibility.

Do I sing? Well, as a matter of fact... I didn't expect that question, but I certainly do - in a chorus, and with my ukelele and with others. I sing with Kat once a week and with family and friends informally. And why do you ask?

It is all about breathing. Most of us, Deborah said, hold our breath and are not even aware of it. I said, "Yes, I know I do. I notice it when I'm working in the studio. I am holding my breath when I'm concentrating. And why do we do it?" I asked. She talked about a baby getting silver nitrate put in their eyes and it hurts and they cry - they fully discharge what they are feeling. But as we get older we are told not to express our emotions and along with that comes the breath being suppressed. It helps with suppressing emotions, to hold your breath and wait for the feelings to pass. That's how I understand what she told me.



So SINGING. You can't sing and hold your breath. She sings all the time or rather VOCALIZES. Any kind of vocalization works to keep you from holding your breath. She always sings as she walks. "What do you do when you pass people," I asked, knowing I would feel embarrassment. "I usually quiet down to a hum," Deborah replied, "but I usually find that people are tickled pink that I am singing while I walk."

Before she left I asked for advice on exercises that might help me when my back starts to hurt after working in the studio for long periods. She said that the most common cause of back pain is from holding your breath. I was surprised! She asked where the pain was in my back. When I showed her she described the anatomy of the diaphragm which connects at the area of the back I had indicated, and somehow, though I can't recall now, holding the breath affects the back via the diaphragm.




My task now is to work on breathing, maybe singing or barking or laughing or humming or whatever. I will try to be a noisemaker much more than a quiet mouse about the house. If you walk by you may hear me.