How to exercise the pectoral muscles with pectus excavatum?
How to exercise the pectoral muscles with pectus excavatum, we know that the indentation of pectus excavatum is concave inward and backward, that is, the front sternum in the middle of a person's chest compresses backward towards the spine. Exercising the pectoralis major muscle aims to lift the muscles on both sides of the sternum, but the attachment point of the pectoralis major actually pulls from the ribs outward and upward towards the humeral tuberosity of the arms. This type of lifting actually pulls the force of the ribs or a part of the sternum outward, and it cannot pull forward. Indeed, the forward force is the direction truly needed when correcting pectus excavatum. Therefore, patients with pectus excavatum can exercise the pectoralis major, do push-ups, and perform dumbbell fly exercises, which are all feasible. However, such exercise will only make the pectoral muscles thicker and the force is directed sideways, and it cannot effectively pull the downward and inward-concaved sternum forward. Therefore, although individuals with pectus excavatum can perform exercises like push-ups and dumbbell flies like normal individuals, these exercises should not be expected to significantly improve pectus excavatum. Moreover, current medical technology and trials have not found exercising the pectoralis major to have a substantial corrective effect on pectus excavatum.