Helix Clinic blog

A research study carried out by researchers at Glasgow University was published today in the journal Thorax.  They used data drawn from the medical records of 14,000 children who were followed from birth until the age of eleven-and-a-half. Parents were asked whether their children had shown signs of wheezing, and if their GP had diagnosed asthma at any stage.

The researchers found that children who watched more than two hours of TV a day at 39 months were twice as likely to have developed asthma compared to more active children. The baseline showed that 6% of children whose breathing was healthy at 39 months went on to be diagnosed with asthma by the age of eleven-and-a-half. The results were the same for boys and girls, and were unrelated to the children’s weight.

This study makes us think about how posture relates to lung function. Many small children sit on the floor to look at the TV (like in the picture above), which creates a classic slumped spinal posture with the neck tilted back. Traditional energy-building forms of exercise such as qi gong or yoga emphasise the importance of a straight spine. If the spine gets used to being in an unnatural position, then the organs of the body near to that part of the spine can often be affected. One of the most common examples of this that we see is if a patient comes in with a respiratory problem, and when we look at their posture we see that the upper part of the spine is often collapsed. The connection between the strength and structure of the spine and the internal organs is an important one, and the results of this new study certainly fit with that view.

If you suffer from a respiratory condition like asthma, take a minute or two to examine your own posture. Is the upper part of your spine collapsed in any way? If so, you may have found the key to changing your condition for the better, without the use of any steroid drugs or other medication.

Tags: asthma, children, television