How to Lift Your Sternum During Sleep 4.0

I think that I may have found the key to lift the sternum completely, or at least very effectively during sleep by put a brace on the lower ribs while lying on the back without lifting the head up with a pillow.

I have like many others tried to brace my lower ribs many times in an attempt to fix pectus excavatum but without any results at all. The key is according to my experience to use the brace only during sleep the initial 2 hours during the night, then remove it and not use it during the day. For example I have found during my testing that it even can make the sternum to sink in while sitting down. So once again; According to my experience it works only while lying down on the back without pillow on a quite hard surface.

The brace I use looks like this.

It should be put on like this, right below the pectoralis muscles.

 

 
This photo was taken after 2 hours on my back with the brace. I could see a difference immediately (once 50 now 4-5 mm).

If you can’t sleep with the brace on, I have a tip: Why not watch a movie during 2 hours? Just place the TV/monitor on the ceiling (it is important to look straight up or slightly downwards).

Try to breathe through the nose so that the intercostal muscles gets as deactivated as possible.

Basic extremely important rule: Try to put as mild pressure on the lower ribs as possible without losing the effect. If it is put on too tight, the pressure from the sides will be too great compared to the pressure from front view, and very likely, the effect will be lost.

I recommend to stand up a few minutes before the brace is put on and it should be put on while standing as well. The brace should almost fall off in a standing position and when you lie down, you will probably find that the pressure from it will increase.

Another important thing is that it will work optimal around 3 hours after the last meal. The diaphragm will have more space to operate in under such circumstances and therefore produce a stronger lift effect on the sternum from the inside.

High Precision Measurement of PE

As I have stated many times; I think it is important to measuring the depth of PE quite often. The reason is that it can be very difficult to see with the bare eyes if one lifts the sternum let’s say 2 mm in two weeks. 2 mm may not seem that much in a two weeks period but in one year, at that rate, it will be 5.2 cm which is not that difficult to calculate. It means that most moderate cases should be minimized in one year. I can say from my own experience that the improvement rate was extremely fast in the beginning and the only thing I did in the beginning was to quit lift the heel and also stopped lifting my head up while lying on the back. I remember that by only doing that I lifted my sternum from around 5 cm to 3.5 cm in 60 days. After that the progress rate slowed down. I also remember the excitement of measuring it almost daily and it got me motivated at a maximum level. If one can’t see any difference in the beginning (just with the eyes) it may lead to that the motivation drops sharply even though there is a slow improvement progress.

Here is a suggestion to; how to make high precision measurement of pectus excavatum:

Take a piece of wood stick (wood is not as cold as metal) and drill a hole on the middle; big enough to make it possible for a vernier caliper to fit in it. Also try to find a small coin or any very hard coin like object.

Make preparations for a correct calculation of the depth:

Measure the thickness of the stick and the coin.

It should look like this while the actual measurement takes place.

 

 

Try to do it as accurate as possible by lying down on a hard flat surface and look straight up “in the ceiling”. If you look down on the PE while measuring you will probably find that it will be deeper while you look down on it and this experience will also proof the fact that the sternum lifts out by NOT using a pillow while sleeping on the back.

Make a correct calculation of the actual depth:

I recommend to make a series of measurements to get used to it and to learn how to do it with high precision.

Let’s say you measure the depth to 35.0 mm. After that, remove the thickness of the stick. The thickness of the stick in the picture is 14.0 mm. This means 35.0-14.0=21.0. After that you must do the opposite with the coin. The coin in the picture is 1.2 mm. This means 21.0+1.2=22.2 mm or expressed in another way 2.22 cm. Now you have the actual depth.

(If you don’t know how to use a vernier caliper, it can be a little tricky if you are a beginner, just google it).

Kyphosis Fixer for PE 2.0

The aim with this exercise is to straighten the spine (which will make the sternum to lift out) and at the same time bend the flared ribs inwards from a front view perspective.

I have made some changes to the first one to make it more effective.

1.      Lie down on a flat horizontal surface on the stomach and hold a pair of light weighted dumbbells.

2.      Form your legs like a “V” and bend the knees 90 degrees (this is to get the pelvis into a beneficial position).

3.      Lift your arms in a “military posture style” so that they touch each other at the same time as you lift your upper body up a little so you can feel a distinct pressure on the flared ribs. Look forward.

4.      Repeat 10 times, 3 sets.

       
       5.    Try to take a short walk (barefoot style) right after this exercise. You should feel that your body
               straightens up while walking.