The Diaphragm, Physio, and the Myofascial System

23 Sep 2018

Recently, and over the last few years, I’ve had a couple of cases that involved the diaphragm.  In each case, it was on a whim that I decided to do a diaphragm release.  Or rather, I had found very little wrong with these dogs, and so decided I needed to think outside the box, and assess the diaphragm.

The recent case is a young male Golden Retriever.  He competes in obedience and field trialing, and has a few different issues over the years.  The owner had noticed that his ‘fronts’ weren’t quite straight.  So, when I assessed him and found nothing in the usual places, I thought, ‘Why not see what the diaphragm is doing?’

So, I slowly pressed into the area under the rib cage and one side was far more tender and taut than the other side.  Subsequently, I did a diaphragm release.  (Essentially pressing into the diaphragm, with some lateral bend towards the affected side, and then repositioning.)  Who knew what it would do.  Well, just a couple of days ago, the owner messaged me that she though his fronts were better!  Wow!  

The other case that comes to mind was a Weimaraner with a very slight ‘bump’ in his spine.  Not quite a roach.  But a less-than-flat topline.  He was another one that I found very little on musculoskeletal evaluation.  So again, I assessed the diaphragm, found one side tender, and did a release technique.  Voila!!  With this dog, his spine looked a bit flatter right away.  His owner was delighted.

What was fascinating to me is that in both cases, I had no idea what to expect and quite honestly, didn’t think that it would do much of anything.  So, with both of these cases, I realized that I really should be checking the diaphragm more.  And if that’s the case, then so should you!

So perhaps I’m sounding like a broken record, but you may need to learn about myofascial release and how to assess for and treat a restricted diaphragm.

I’ve got a couple of educational options to help you out:

October 2018 in California:  www.atlasrehabforcanines.com

April 2019 in New Jersey:  www.staarconference.com 

I’d love to see some of you there!

Cheers!  Laurie