Rib flare is when the lower ribs protrude at the front of the ribcage. Rib flare may affect your breathing, making it shallower, which could also affect digestion. It may also lead to back pain or to specific movements, such as twisting or lifting.
Ribflare can happen for many reasons, including prolonged sitting, internal pressure from excess belly fat, weak core muscles, sunken chest (pectus excavatum), and scoliosis. In this article, I’ll discuss a lesser-known cause originating in the costodiaphragmatic recess and the importance of natural full-body movement.
Costodiaphragmatic recess: Is a space between the respiratory diaphragm and the thoracic wall in each pleural cavity (compartments which enclose the lungs). The lungs move into this space in deep respiration.
I learned about rib flare adhesions from my Functional Methods teacher, Jeffrey Burch. Functional Methods was pioneered by osteopath Harold Hoover in 1954. Hoover recognized that mobility was essential for proper physiological function. Life is movement.
Functional Methods are low-force techniques designed to reduce adhesions and awaken proprioception. Adhesions form due to inflammation, infection, surgery, or trauma. Coupled with dysfunctional breathing patterns and a lack of upper body movement, adhesions have an increased chance of forming and becoming a problem that may result in pain or organ dysfunction.
Natural movement and proper breathing mechanics are built-in mechanisms for fascia release.
This is just one of the many reasons hanging and climbing are so important. Hanging from your hands and reaching above your head provides a natural fascia release to the tissues of the thoracic cavity. Modern life doesn’t require these movements very often. We get our food from a shelf rather than climbing a tree to pick it. We use a navigation APP, rather than climbing to higher ground to scan the landscape. We turn on the thermostat instead of chopping wood to burn.
Fit more hanging and overhead reaching into your life by installing a pull-up bar near your workstation and taking hanging breaks throughout the day. Hang with both hands, one hand, overhand, underhand, wide grip, narrow grip, vary your position as much as possible while breathing deeply into your intercostals. As always, start slowly, keeping your feet on the ground, or skip the pull-up bar at first and hold on to the door frame while leaning to the opposite side. Visit a restorative exercise specialist for help transitioning into hanging. Moving too quickly into hanging when you don’t have the proper range of motion or strength in your shoulder girdle could cause injury.
Take your kids to the park to hang on monkey bars, or build monkey bars in your hallway!
Hanging in the hallway! Photo credit Lindsay McCoy
June, the sweet little girl above, had open-heart surgery at just 3.5 months old. June’s mama, Lindsay McCoy, at Mama Aligned says that she saw firsthand how hanging helped June’s lungs/pneumonia issues.
Photo credit Christine Hughes Zarrilli
Photo credit Debbie Beane.
“The soft frame is supported by and suspended from the hard frame. Therefore, any restriction of the bones can affect the organs and vice versa. For example, an intercostal restriction can fix part of the pleura because of the relationship between the internal intercostal muscles, subcostal muscles, and pleura.”– Jean-Pierre Barral, The Thorax
If you are looking for assistance with releasing restrictions in the thoracic cavity, see a Functional Methods practitioner, or a Visceral Manipulation™ practitioner who has completed VM4 (the thorax).
Author: Barbara Horsley has more than 26 years of experience as a licensed massage therapist. She specializes in abdominal massage and Visceral Manipulation™ and is an NCBTMB-approved educator. In addition to being certified in abdominal massage, she also studied biomechanics and restorative exercise. She is also a Certified Women’s Herbal Educator and a graduate of the IWHI Perimenopause & Menopause Certificate Program.