6 exercises to move the ribs, your spine will thank you

Taking care of your ribs provides you with well-being

When a person transmits well-being and dynamismwhat informs us of these qualities are aspects that we perceive unconsciously: the freedom of his breathing, the elasticity of his spine and torso, the ease of his movements.

One of the keys lies in an element that we rarely pay attention to: the rib flexibilityor what is the same, the ability of our ribs and the joints of our ribcage to adapt to movement.

Our beautifully curved ribs are the only elastic bones of the body. They yield when a force is applied to them – like a bow when an arrow is shot – and return to their resting state when that force is removed. They adapt their shape to both the variety of respiratory movement and that of the spine.

The ribs are flexible and, moreover, they articulate in many places with the spine. Taking care of this mobility provides an intimate well-being, since it comes from a very axial and central place.

But what joints are those? so important and so secret? More than eighty! Each pair of ribs – there are twelve pairs – is attached at two points to the spine and also, in front, to the sternum. A portion of the ribs is made of cartilage, even more flexible.

When the column moves, all these little joints fit and they move too.

The vertebral column, a vigorous stem

The very name of the column suggests its support function. But it is also a flexible reed equipped for a considerable amount of movement: it can curve back and forth, lean to the sides, spiral, and combine these movements to perform more complex ones.

This spinal mobility It is, above all, a team effort: each vertebral level contributes its grain of sand –a few degrees– and the sum is impressive. If mobility is lost at the thoracic level, the neighbors will be affected.

That’s when we think of take care of the cervicals or the lower back, because they hurt us. But the cause is overwork that can only be truly fixed by restoring movement in the lazy areas.

Widens the ribcage to function better

The name of rib cage It also refers to its mission: to establish a safe enclosure to protect our precious heart. The lungs, in addition to protection, need to be filled and emptied, to vary their size, and in that their envelope must also accompany them, the thoracic basket, as it is sometimes called to keep in mind its plasticity: like that of a fresh wicker basket. .

The everyday breathingeven at rest, requires a certain freedom of the lower ribs for the action of the diaphragm, which moves rhythmically –like a beautiful jellyfish– within this adaptable enclosure.

If you like to do exercises to strengthen your upper abs, don’t forget to also stretch them to preserve this mobility.

He stress sometimes it manifests as a “knot in the stomach”, and it is a true muscular knot – of the abdominals and the diaphragm – that blocks rib mobility and reinforces a vicious circle.

When you have that “knot”, put your hands in the area – the diaphragm lives in the floor under the pecs – and think about give space, comfort and freedom to your breathing there. Proof! Simple? Works!

Welfare digestive, circulatory and even lymphatic benefit from this costal flexibility, since it is also the mission of the diaphragm to contribute, with its movement, to all these functions.