You can reduce VCD by paying attention to your neck and facial muscles.
- Stretch your scalenes (muscles along the side of your neck) by pinning these muscles with your fingers along the clavicle and leaning your head backwards. Jut your jaw out to get a deeper stretch. Stretch your tongue down toward your chin.
- Raise your eyebrows and stretch your whole face. Stretch your face and lips by saying “Meow” in an exaggerated fashion.
- Gently squeeze along your sternocleidomastoid muscles (the long neck muscle that runs from behind your ear to your collar bones ) and with two fingers massage your masseter (muscle along sides of your jaw used for chewing).
Speech pathologists specializing in VCD recommend runners who have constrictive breathing issues to also concentrate on expanding their rib cages.
- While lying down, place your hands on the sides of your ribcage and, while inhaling, mentally push your breath into your hands.
- Place one hand on your chest and one on your belly; feel yourself melting into the ground as you breathe into both hands.
- Find your intercostal muscles by placing your fingers between your ribs. Push into these muscles and breathe to expand the space between the ribs. These muscles contract and expand the ribcage to allow for the inflation and deflation of your lungs. The more relaxed these muscles are, the more elastic your ribcage is and the more room exists for expansion.
- Roll out your erector muscles along your spine with a foam roller (making a “T” with your spine against the roller) to help decrease any curvature in your spine that collapses your lung capacity.
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- If you have an inhaler, don’t stop using it until you see a doctor. If you are referred to a speech and language therapist, make sure he or she is trained in VCD. Consider asking your doctor for a pulmonary test, specifically a laryngoscopy.
- Mentally visualize relief. Burke Fishburn, a competitive age group runner who has VCD says, “I visualize my whole body being surrounded by clean cold air and that my pores can breathe.”
- Don’t try to control your breathing. Focus on “letting go” instead. The harder you try to take in air the more the muscles tighten. As vocal cords shorten other muscles begin to recruit and constrict. Take small sniffs of breath through the nose, then slowly exhale through your mouth keeping your lips slightly parted while slowly blowing.
SEE ALSO: Vocally Distressed to learn more about this dysfunction
Marathon Pace Charts for Fine-Tuning Training http://www.nationaljewish.org/healthinfo/conditions/vcd/treatment/
