A person cannot live without air for more than a minute on average. Breathing is the basis of all physiological processes in the human body.
One might wonder: which chest muscles (pictured below) are involved in chest expansion? And again: what is the exhalation due to? Readers will find answers to these questions in this article.
Lung function model
The main respiratory organ in the human body does not function independently, it is helped by muscle groups. The lungs are not able to move and change size on their own. For this, nature provides muscles that provide expansion and collapse of the chest.
In order for air to enter the lungs, it is necessary to create conditions under which the volume of the respiratory organ has increased and the pressure inside has decreased.
Let's do an experiment. Let's squeeze a slightly perforated rubber ball in a fist, imagining that these are lungs. The hand, its muscles will do the work, and the object inside will decrease in volume. The air from the hole will begin to come out.
Nowlet's relax the brush, the ball will begin to straighten out due to the elasticity of the material and "pull" part of the air through the hole.
Inspiratory muscles
The anatomy of the chest muscles is studied together, as they work as synergists. Inhalation occurs with the help of the main (inspiratory) muscle group:
- Aperture. It is attached by tendon processes to the upper vertebrae of the lumbar spine. From above, it is a muscular sheet that delimits the lower aperture of the chest and the mediastinum. When inhaling, the diaphragm descends (dome-shaped), pushing the internal organs, and creating a decrease in pressure in the lungs.
- Intercostal muscles (external). There are 22 of them in total (11 on each side). Their function is to raise and expand the chest. Each attaches to the lower edge of the rib above (near the spinal joints) and extends forward and down to the upper edge of the rib below.
- Raising ribs. They raise the ribs, are attached from the back (on the transverse processes of the thoracic region) and continue to the corners of the ribs.
- Serratus muscle (posterior). It is attached to the spinous processes of the vertebrae of the cervical-thoracic junction (C6, C7, TH1, TH2) and stretches to the upper ribs (2-5). Can also raise the costal arches and tilt the spine with unilateral contraction.
This is enough to take a full breath. In the anatomy atlas, you can clearly see them and find out what the pectoral muscles are called.cells. But it turns out that all people use them in different ways. There is a so-called individual "breathing pattern" of a person.
Forcing
Often, the upper and lower muscles are included in the work, providing expansion and collapse of the chest, from the so-called "auxiliary" group (expiratory):
- chest (large and small);
- stairs;
- GKS;
- toothed (front).
Types of inspiration
There are varieties in which the muscles that provide expansion and collapse of the chest are activated in different ways.
- Regular. For a he althy person, the diaphragm and intercostal muscles are enough to draw air into the lungs. Let's see how they work. The diaphragm is a unique flattened muscle that is attached from below by tendon pedicles to the upper vertebrae of the lumbar spine. From above - this is a large muscle sheet that can stretch and contract to the state of a dome. When you inhale, the diaphragmatic dome goes down, expanding the costal arches, reducing pressure inside the lungs (in the alveoli). The intercostal muscles help expand the thoracic inlet.
- Reinforced. Sometimes you have to breathe "forced". For example, when playing sports or at the moment of excitement. This is often the case for people with asthma. In this case, the brain connects "helpers". They can serve, basically, representatives of the "auxiliary" group, one way or another, attached to the chest, shoulder blades,skull, shoulder Due to their joint coordinated work, it is possible to quantitatively increase the volume of the lungs.
Exhale
The upper and lower chest muscles are studied by anatomy to explain the breathing patterns of different people. Knowing the principles of the work of muscle structures, you can perform various breathing exercises.
Exhaling is just as important as inhaling. In order for the air to leave the lungs, the muscles just need to relax. Inertially, the chest will fall and exhale.
But it can also be reinforced. If you exhale forcefully, then various muscles of the upper body are included in the work. In addition to inspiratory and expiratory, the muscles of the neck (trapezius, scalene and others), pectoral (small and large), as well as muscle groups attached to the shoulder joints and shoulder blades can contract.
Full Breathing Technique
Interesting fact: if the volume of breathing is increased by 10 percent, then life can be extended up to 10 years. To increase the capacity of the lungs, there are many techniques. One of them is the practice of "full breathing", which came from yoga. It involves all the muscles that provide expansion and collapse of the chest.
To do this, the breath is made from the bottom up, first the diaphragm is activated (the stomach is inflated), then the middle part of the lungs (lower chest), at the end - the upper parts of the lungs (shoulders go up). After that, you should take a short pause (a few seconds). Exhalationproduced in reverse order.
The breathing muscles can also be effectively worked with aerobic activities (running, cycling, jumping, walking, dancing). All this improves lung function, well-being, general he alth and prolongs life years.
