Shoulders

[-Butterfly-]

Does anyone else find their shoulder are tense when asthma is playing up? Just recently I've been mostly fine during the day, but afternoon's and evenings are a problem for my asthma, and my shoulders are so tense

[MMBJI]

Yes- I have to consciously draw them down . I find that if I can roll them up towards my ears and then back and down it helps .

Also, I was taught this exercise-

if you can have you arms down by your sides, then tuck your elbows as close in to your body as you can, then bend arms up flexing from the elbow- palms up, so that forearms are parallel to the floor, then move forearms outwards- holding everything else in place.

As if you are holding a tray, then opening arms outwards.

I hope that makes sense!

Repeat as often and as many times as you can.

It really helped me to realign my shoulders after finding that they were permanently up and rounded forward.

[Itswonderful]

yes! I empathise. There was a bit about "yoga snacks" a couple of days ago on BBC Radio 2 Jeremy Vine show. It releases the trapesium muscles and helps. It's worth listening to it. It's very simple but seems to work, even when the shoulders and neck are very tense.

[Poobah in reply to Itswonderful]

That sounds great. Thanks for sharing.

[Troilus]

Yes. Mine come up to my ears 😁

[Poobah]

I've had both my asthma nurse and physio point out that I need to work on my shoulder control. Shoulders go up, too rounded. I'll repeat what they've told me; shoulders up and tense equals poor lung function. Relaxed shoulders and diaphragm breathing equals effective lung function. Even my physio niece has shared her observations..."shoulders!"

Even at my last asthma review I failed, shoulder wise, when my asthma nurse asked me to demonstrate how I take my inhaler. She explained that I'm only using the top part of my lungs as I'm raising my shoulders on inhalation rather than using my diaphragm. Funnily, I'm watching a TV drama ATM & one of the characters has asthma. I'm cringing as she uses her inhaler as she's using her shoulders to inhale. It's so obviously wrong, but difficult to change bad habits.

[Birthday60]

Absolutely - Ive been having relaxing and sports massages since I was a teenager for just that reason.... I notice the difference every time. Its worth looking at Pilates as they focus on court breathing techniques as well as using a foam roller to lie on which isn't as difficult as it sounds as it opens up the chest