Breathing Series (1 of 2): “Visual Signs Your Breathing Posture Is Impaired" with Dr. Sarah Petrich

Dr. Sarah Petrich shares how your posture can hold clues or signs that your breath is impaired or unbalanced.  See Part 2 for “Objective Tests” Your Breathing Posture Is Impaired.

About Sarah Petrich, PT, DPT, PRC, NCPT:

As a specialist in Postural Restoration, Pilates, & Dance Medicine, Dr. Sarah Petrich provides physical therapy and Pilates training focusing on re-balancing posture, alignment and breathing for patients and wellness clients. When not in the clinic or on zoom, she's often traveling around the nation teaching educational courses to healthcare professionals, Pilates instructors and other movement specialists. You can find her and her courses on her website www.sarahpetrich.com or on Instagram at @drsarahpetrich.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Will

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Just be happy with the a . Hi, I'm Dr. Sarah
Petrich and I have to tell you,as a physical therapist, I do
walk around and judge peopleall the time now with love of

(00:24):
course, but I don't totallyjudge people all the time. And
part of the , uh, part of whatI judge is looking at people's
posture and what it tells meabout how they move, but also
how they breathe . So yes, yourposture tells me a little bit
about how you breathe. So , um,keep in mind that even though

(00:47):
you look at somebody and yousee certain things, it's really
just circumstantial evidence,but it's something to pursue
and look at a little bit more.
So , uh, first there's a fewdifferent visual signs that you
might not be in the bestposture for good breathing. So
first things first, yourprofile over your rim cage .

(01:12):
Okay , this is a rim cage witha very flat spine. Now the
thoracic spine, which is thismid-back area, really shouldn't
be straight. It really shouldbe nice and curved and rounded.
That does not mean you wanna bethis hunched over with your
pelvis in front of your rimcage. I call that collapsed

(01:34):
kyphosis. And we wouldnormally, in the medical jargon
world, we'd just say it'sincreased kyphosis, but I like
to say it's, it's collapsedbecause that's exactly what the
, what those people are doing.
You do want some kyphosis inthis part of the spine. You
want it to be rounded, just nottoo much. That being said,
there's a lot of people walkingaround with really flat

(01:57):
thoracic spines and here's whatit looks like. All right ,
here's my , I just grabbed herand I was like, we need to show
this off. So I saw this and Iwas like, yes, the world needs
to see this, so see how she'sgot these winging shoulder
blades? And most people willgo, oh, you know, she's just

(02:19):
really thin, which she is. Okay. Uh , and then maybe like some
other people might go, oh, shemaybe needs to strengthen , um,
some muscles underneath thoseshoulders , um, to get the
shoulder to lay more againsttur thax. But I say, look at
this thoracic spine in betweenthere, this thoracic spine's

(02:41):
really, really flat just likethis model. And the reason is,
is not just , uh, her scapulas,but it's really what's
underneath the scapulas. Andthat's this beautiful , um,
piece of bony artwork called arim cage. And if that rim cage
isn't supported by lungs thatexpand backwards and fill her

(03:05):
lungs and move her ribsbackwards, she'll get real flat
here and start to push her ribsforward more. And that's
because she's not breathing inthe most efficient proper way.
So thank you so much .
So , um, we do want a curvehere and that's gonna be
meaning we want ribs to be in alittle bit different position.

(03:29):
In another video we're gonnatalk about how to attain it.
Now some other things that youmight see with people who are
not breathing really well , um,besides a flat back is again,
this kind of collapsedkyphosis. These people, when
you lay them down on a table,you'll actually see, all of a
sudden you find their ribs andthey're pushing forward. And

(03:49):
I'll show you a mini version ofthat today. Um, you can also
see people with kind of roundedshoulders and sunken in upper
chest. That's 'cause they'renot getting good airflow in the
upper part of their rim cage .
Um, I already kind of mentionedribs flaring out these front
lower ribs. If you think of theprofile of your rim cage again

(04:12):
here, your front lower ribsreally shouldn't be sticking
out forward. They shouldactually be kind of tucked down
and in like if your uh , dia orif your rim cage was like a
bell , uh, when the bell swingsbackwards, those ribs would
swing down in and back andcreate this more curved spine.

(04:38):
And that's really the positionwe want a rib cage and a spine
to be in. But if those ribs areflaring forward, I'm really
suspicious and I'm starting tojudge not just your posture but
also your breathing. You'llalso see the sternum and you
can judge a sternum. Um, andhow it's affecting your
breathing too. 'cause all ofthese ribs connect into the

(05:00):
sternum except for the falseribs. So if you look at your
sternum, and you can do this athome, if you put your hands on
your sternum, whether you'resitting or standing , uh,
you've got the top of yoursternum here called the
manubrium and you've got thelower part of your sternum, the
xiphoid process. If thisxiphoid process is really far

(05:21):
forward in front of yourmanubrium , we've got flared
ribs and a flared sternum. Andactually just as I talk here,
I'm starting to get out ofbreath just speaking in this
poor postural position, it's alot better if I get the lower
part of my sternum , uh, rightabove the top part of my

(05:42):
sternum so that it's much moreperpendicular to the floor. Uh
, now if you're thinking aboutwhat about these people who are
collapsed back, well they'redeceiving you and you'll see
the difference with theirsternum when they lay down.
They're really these people butthey've collapsed back 'cause
it's easier to breathe here andthey're just these people in

(06:04):
disguise. Now I'm gonna alsohave you , uh, meet Robert.
Come on Robert. Alright Robert,we're gonna look at his rib
flares and a little bit, butI'm gonna have you face the
camera. Actually, you can alsosee asymmetries in a rim cage
and that's because thediaphragm happens to be
asymmetrical. So it's verycommon to see asymmetrical rim

(06:29):
cages. And when I say anasymmetrical rim cage , you
might be able to notice in thecamera that his right shoulder
is actually lower than his leftand that's probably the most
common. Asymmetry is rightshoulder lower than the left.
That being said, sometimespeople's necks are really
overactive and we'll pull theright side up and the left

(06:49):
shoulder will be lower than the, than the right. So thanks for
coming today, . Andwe're gonna look at Robert's
ribs a little bit more 'causeI'm gonna show you what they
look like when he is layingdown where you're gonna be able
to see how his ribs flare upand forward. But also I'm gonna
show you what also helps mefigure out, okay, my eyes see

(07:12):
one thing, but is it reallytelling me the whole story? And
so there's some objective teststhat I as a physical therapist
can look at that I know they'regonna be impacted if you are a
poor breather or not balancedin your breathing. So that's
coming up. Thanks everybody forwatching and I wanna do an
extra special thanks to OxygenPlus I hope you learn

(07:36):
something. And if you'd like tofind me, you can find
[e-mail].
S-A-R-A-H-P-E-T-R-I-C h.com. Orif you wanna learn more about
Oxygen Plus you can [e-mail].