Light Weight Exercise for Pectus Excavatum: Sternum Lifter

I have during the last two months found out what I believe is the ultimate way to lift and stretch the sternum. It is a light weight exercise that I have developed myself. I will call this exercise “Sternum Lifter”. It activates the muscles in the upper body in two opposite directions which will make the sternum to stretch and lift. I believe that it’s best to do it right before going to sleep so that the muscles in the upper back will get optimal rest during the night. How to do it?

Because this is a light weight exercise you don’t have to buy dumbbells. I grabbed two rocks with a weight around 1.5 kg each.

1.       Lie down on the back with the arms along the side.

2.       Lift the upper body a few centimeters at the same time as you lift the arms so that the rocks              touch each other as illustrated in the picture (not higher than the illustration shows).

3.       Repeat many times (10 reps, 2-3 sets).

Note: I believe that it is very important to not use too heavy weights because that will probably make the wrong muscles to be activated. This is a so called “light weight exercise”. It is also very important to not lift the arms too high. Not higher than the picture shows.

How to Lift Your Sternum During Sleep 2.0

This is an improved version of the first one. A very thin pillow shall be placed over the circle to the right where the head shall be placed. One should try to sleep as much as possible on the back to keep the upper back in correct position. This will help to fix the kyphosis related to pectus excavatum and make the sternum to lift a little every night. To be sure that it is done correctly one can put one hand on the upper back while lying down. The upper back shall be lifted up a little so that the curvature disappears. I sleep the whole night in this type of bed, as much as possible on the back. My kyphotic spine is almost gone after this implementation and my sternum does not fall back during the night.

The circle to the right is material which has been cut out. All of the material shown in the picture shall be “medium soft”. The circle should be around 20 cm.

From Around 50 mm to 9 mm

Here is a photo showing my 9 mm record. To keep the sternum in this position I need to follow my routine otherwise it falls back (a few millimeters) inwards very fast.