Sandy Baird DC of Riverstone Chiropractic providing queer inclusive LGBT chiropractic care of trans patients
Prism Blog, Self Care for Trans Health, Surgical Recovery & Scars

Six Steps to More Comfortable Binding: Part Three

Guest blog from Sandy Baird DC of Riverstone Chiropractic

According to a Health Impact Study published in the Culture, Health, and Sexuality Journal, 97% of people who wear a binder experience uncomfortable side effects such as neck pain, shoulder pain, back pain, and trouble breathing.

Other than limiting the time you spend in a binder, changing/washing your binder often, and avoiding unsafe compression methods such as duct tape and ACE bandages, there are several steps you an take to decrease the discomforts associated with binding.

This collection of tips comes both from my personal experience wearing binders as well as my clinical experience in treating the musculoskeletal complaints that my clients experience from binding.

3. Deep breathing and coughing

  • Before pulling on your binder for the day, build resilience in your lungs and rib muscles by taking three deep breaths.
    • If your mobility allows it, sweep your arms up overhead on your inhale, and gently lower your arms on your exhale.
    • During binding it may feel challenging to take very full breaths.
  • A centering meditation focused on connecting with your normal breathing pattern can be helpful in alleviating some of the anxiety that can come from feeling like you can’t get a deep breath.
    • You can create your own or download one of the many free meditation apps that are available to you.
  • After binding, take three deep breaths, then do three big coughs to clear any fluid that may be building up in the lungs.
    • This fires up the intercostal muscles, those little in-between-the-ribs muscles that don’t see a lot of activation due to being squished down under a binder.
  • Follow with another round of three more deep breaths and then three more coughs.

Look out for next week’s post for tip #4!

The stretches, self-muscle work, and strengthening exercises are from my full core and glutes strengthening program available for purchase at www.engineeringyourbody.com. And if you are interested in exploring muscle-work or joint adjusting to alleviate your muscle and joint pain, you can find out more about my practice at www.riverstonechiropractic.com.

In happiness and health,

Dr. Sandy Baird, DC

Oakland Chiropractor Sandy Baird

 

Bio:
I’m Dr. Sandy Baird, DC. I’ve been providing bodywork in the Bay Area for over ten years now. First as a massage therapist, and now as a doctor who combines soft tissue work with joint adjusting. I feel that it’s important for queers to have a safe space to have their bodies worked on. Many of us already shoulder a lot of extra stress and tension from being constantly judged, worrying about what bathrooms we should use, and having to actively resist and fight back for our rights as our new state of “normal”.

References:
Health impact of chest binding among transgender adults: a community-engaged, cross-sectional study: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13691058.2016.1191675

 

All information in this blog is for educational uses only. Always consult your doctor before taking any herbs or supplements, or changing or discontinuing your medications.

Contact us to see if your insurance covers services at our office!

Join the Prism Family! Subscribe to our newsletter and get our free hormone health mini e-course.