Costochonritis

This question was emailed to us, but we thought others might be interested!

Me again. In this line of work, I get to meet so many different kinds of people with so many unique challenges. Thank goodness I’m a jazz singer too (so I can think on my feet!)

Anyway, I have a new client coming who suffers from costochondritis. I do not know any specifics yet, but wondered if this is something of which you have heard or tackled. I looked it up online, and it appears there are different aspects of the condition, and even different ways you can “contract” it…viral, bacterial, over-use of the chest musculature, or even a physical force or accident.

Just let me know.

Thanks!

Salle

ps, I was reading the blog response about singing and pilates. I do not use the same breath for singing…I get better depth of sound and endurance if I let my abs forcefully expand and hold them out there while I’m singing.

But my pilates training has helped tremendously because it has allowed me to control my breathing for the activity at hand . For instance, in pilates we lift the pelvic floor for stability…in music, I drop the pelvic floor to reach my high notes. It gives me grounding so that my voice can reach high.

Response from Melanie:

Mel

Response from Jean:

I found this definition from the mayo clinic:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/costochondritis/DS00626
I had never heard of it either. My recommendations would be to try to get some gentle thoracic spine movement in all the different planes and work on improving posture and core stability.
Jean

Special conditions- asthma, arthritis & degenerative disc disease

This question was sent and responded to through email, but we thought others might be interested!

From Jeff to Pacific NW Pilates:

Jeff Ong

From Leslie Braverman

Hi Jeff:
Thanks for your questions; I’m so glad you like the blog and will be attending some of Melanie’s upcoming courses and workshops; she is really the expert in this area, but I thought I would put in my two cents. I know she will have some comments for you to consider too.

This question about asthma as related to the principles of breathing is an interesting one; I don’t think I can recall being asked about it before. At any rate, I have not read a lot about the subject. That said, there are some interesting books out about the topic that you may want to look into. Alexandra Hough has written a book called “Physiotherapy in Respiratory Care” that talks about not only asthma but many other mild and chronic respiratory conditions.
She also has a whole section about breathing techniques for asthma.

To summarize, she says that certain breathing techniques can be used to diminish stress and anxiety (some of the triggers of asthma- although there are many, many others), aid in giving a person a feeling of control, promote relaxation and improve the efficiency of breathing. She emphasizes that the individual should find a comfortable way of breathing, it should be gentle (not deep or forced), encourage breath awareness and diminish residual tension (do these things sound familiar?!) She uses these techniques with patients and encourages them to do them regularly and, particularly, if they feel an attack coming on. I would love to hear if others, with asthma, have felt any changes, positively or negatively, from practicing pilates on a regular basis.

With regard to osteoarthritis (vs. rheumatoid) and degenerative disc disease, the first is a degenerative process in which cartilage around a joint wears away and the second is progressive structural degeneration of the intervertebral disc. Generally speaking, compressive, sheering forces at their respective locations will contribute to both conditions. Therefore, localized joint stability will be really important and, since we are speaking, specifically, about neutral versus imprinted spine and which is better for an individual presenting with spinal osteoarthritis and/or DDD, I would suggest that working in the spine’s neutral position will be most beneficial to individuals with these issues. Working in the spine’s neutral zone with support from the pelvic floor, transversus abdominis and multifidis will be vital to your client’s spinal health, and it will be important that they are cued to avoid bracing, overuse of their erector spinae and/or substituting other superficial muscles for these deep local stabilizers.

I know Melanie will have a ton more information for you about this topic. Diane Lee has also done some amazing studies about neutral spine and lumbopelvic stability; she is worth checking out.

Thanks for your note. Would you mind if I post this, along with our answers, to our blog? I think others will be interested in these topics too, and I would like to hear what others have to say. Let me know.

Thanks.
–
Leslie