Asthma & breathing difficulties

To put it very simply, Asthma, or any breathing difficulty, is a result of a stiff and rigid rib cage and constricted airways. Its physically difficult to move the ribs and to make matters worse, the pipe from the air outside to your lungs inside, is thin and squashed and therefore difficult for air to travel through.

In fact it’s the rigid upper ribs and the muscles that attach to them, that are irritating the nerve to the windpipe and encouraging it to tighten and be thinner. After a few years of this happening , your body becomes tired of trying to keep the windpipe open and this exhaustion allows Asthma to become a “semi permanent fixture”. Usual Medical treatment for Asthma , involves the Inhalers, which rapidly open the windpipe. However, as the medication wears off, the windpipe constricts once again. The body makes its own chemicals which open the windpipe, but it fails to make enough to do the job, once the complications of Asthma have changed the breathing mechanics, hence the need for inhalers. (this again is a gross simplification to make explanation easily understood. Severe Asthma attacks need urgent medical attention.)

Osteopathic treatment for Asthma is all about loosening the ribs so they can move up and down effortlessly. This makes the muscles relax because they don’t have to work anywhere near as hard. More relaxed muscles means more calm nerve impulses that tell the windpipe to relax/open more. So in turn the windpipe stays open effortlessly and the Asthma begins to disappear. In addition, the diaphragm works more freely so breathing deeply becomes the ‘norm’. This too helps in bringing the nervous system into perfect balance which keeps the windpipe open and the mucous production down which means no wheeze and easy breathing and the end to hyperventilating.

The longer the Asthma has been established, the more treatments it will take to completely reverse the postural habits and the tension in the chest that help to maintain the Asthma. However the huge relief attained from just one session will be so obvious, the benefit will seem like a cure.

As with all our treatments at the Prestbury Holistic Centre in Cheltenham, a dedicated, patient centred approach is provided, to offer people the very best in holistic health care.

If you have any questions about Asthma or any of the other symptoms we treat here, please call on 01242 221456.