Flexibility and results

[KaliMa]

Hello,

I have been walking with only drop zero shoes (merrell trail glove 3) for the past couple of months only and sleeping on my back with out a pillow. I haven't really seen any improvement. I went to a specialist that creates pectus chest braces and was told that I have very little sternum flexibility and that I had to go to another specialist for a second opinion whether a brace would even help or make the situation worse. He said my sternum bone may curve or tuck under the sibs make it impossible to lift.

I am wondering if anyone has any experience with this. When I do deep breathing exercises in the mirror or with my hand to chest I do not see the sternum lift, just the surrounding area which makes it feel better with my hands. I notice pressure on the inside of my sternum from the lungs.

Thank you!

[Björn Åkerström]

When I started my recovery journey my sternum had very little flexibility. I could push it out the way you describes arond 5 mm. I ask myself; have you made high precision measurements of before and after you started? One thing that I also am woundering about; do you sit down a lot during an ordinary day or do you have a job that makes you physically active?

If the specialist has told you that your flexibility is very limitid I can only recommend you to do incline pushups, that helped me very much in the beginning to loosen up the sternum. It is simply because this exercise streches the whole thorax. I hope this will help.

My method has been proven to work for some people but beacause this is not tested clinically in a big study, it is impossible to say that it works for everyone. But I Think that it may do so even for more hardened sternums, one just have to be very motivated and stricly being active. One of the worst things to do I belive, is to sit down for very long periods during a day. Even for me, the sternum sinks back if I do that.

Hope this will help you in some way

Björn Å.