Pectus excavatum is a medical term used to describe a rib cage abnormality that causes your breastbone to cave inward. Although most people with this abnormality don't develop symptoms, severe cases can occasionally lead to harmful compression of your lungs and heart. Children and teenagers can potentially reverse some of the effects of pectus excavatum with pushups or other chest-strengthening exercises.
Basics
Doctors don't know precisely what causes pectus excavatum, although they believe it stems from an overgrowth of the cartilage that connects your ribs to your sternum, or breastbone. While the condition usually appears on its own, it can also appear in association with other problems, including a genetic disorder called Marfan syndrome, an abnormal spinal curvature called scoliosis and a vitamin and mineral deficiency-related disorder called rickets. Children younger than age 18 can use exercise or other forms of physical therapy to slow or reverse pectus excavatum. Deformities in adults are typically permanent.
Pushups
Pushups are body-weight exercises that force you to work the pectoral muscles in your chest, as well as the triceps muscles in your arms and the medial and anterior deltoid muscles in your back. Children seeking to reduce the effects of pectus excavatum can help reach their goals by performing 25 pushups a day, according to Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters. In this context, the primary effect of pushups is to improve the appearance of the chest by strengthening the chest and back muscles. Many children who appear to have severe cases of pectus excavatum actually have mild chest deformities combined with bad posture.
Additional Exercises
As an alternative to pushups, your child can strengthen his chest muscles by lying on his back with his hands spread out and lifting small weights upward over his chest. As with pushups, he will typically need to perform 25 repetitions of this exercise each day. Additional exercises to add to a pectus excavatum routine include back-straightening exercises and chest expansion exercises, which require your child to stand straight and hold his breath for 10 seconds at a time. Ask your child's doctor for more information on the proper performance of these exercises.
Effectiveness and Considerations
For the best results, have your child perform pushups and other pectus excavatum exercises for no more than 10 minutes the first thing in the morning and right before going to bed. While pushups and other exercises won't cure a severe case of pectus excavatum, they can prevent mild cases from worsening, make any necessary surgical corrections easier to perform and help maintain the long-term effects of a corrective surgical procedure, Children's Hospital notes. In addition to these exercises, encourage your child to stay generally active and get some form of aerobic exercise.
References
- Cleveland Clinic; Pectus Excavatum; 1995-2009
- University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics: Pectus Excavatum; Frequently Asked Questions; James E. Davis, MD; Tina Davenport; December 2008
- Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters: Pectus Excavatum Exercise Program; February 2009
- American Council on Exercise: Chest Exercises
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