Movements of Respiration

The movement of air into and out of the lungs is brought about by alteration in the
size of the thoracic cavity, the lungs following these variations passively.When the
thoracic cavity enlarges during inspiration, the lungs must also expand because the
visceral pleura cannot part from the parietal pleura on the thoracic wall.Air flows
through the nose into the lungs.On expiration the changes are in the opposite direction.

The most important muscle of inspiration is the diaphragm separating the thoracic
and abdominal cavities; it is made up of a central tendon with muscle fibres radiating
from it to the circumference of the lower parts of the thoracic wall.When it contracts
the central tendon is pulled down and the intra-abdominal pressure is raised ; at the
same time the costal margins move up and out due to the vertical position of the fibres
attached to it which expand the base of the thorax. On quiet inspiration the downward
movement of the diaphragm , and thus the capacity of the chest,varies with the
position of the body-the diaphragm is highest in the supine position, a little lower in the
erect position, and still lower when the subject is sitting because the abdominal
muscles are relaxed in this position. Since the cross-sectional area of the thorax
increases from above downwards , any given air intake can be accomplished by a
smaller diaphragmatic movement the lower the resting positionof the diaphragm. The
patient with respiratory disease is , therefore, often most comfortable when sitting up.
The diaphragm is the last muscle to go out of action during progressively deepening
anasthesia.

The external and internal intercostal muscles occupy the spaces between the ribs.
If the intercostal nerves are cut in man the amplituted of these ribs movements is
reduced and the tissues of the intercostal spaces bulge or recede according to the
variations in the intrathoracic pressure. The intercostal muscles seem to contribute very
little to the effort of quiet respiration. No activity could be detected in the external
intercostals in these circumtances.In vigorous respiration,however,the two layers of
muscle showed reciprocal activity all over the chest wall, the external intercostals
contracting on inspiration and the internal intercostals on expiration.

The abdominal muscles are little used on quiet breathing .they seem to go into
vigorous action only when the ventilation is high or when the subject is coughing or
straining.
 The only accessory muscles of any importance in inspiration are the scaleni and
the sternomastoids.The former may be in action in some persons on quiet inspiration;
they elevate and fix the first two ribs.The sternomastoids are employed only in deep
breathing and in dyspnoea : they raise the sternum and increase the antero-posterior
diameter of the thorax.On expiration the inspiratory muscles relax and the movements
of the thorax and the lungs are reversed. During this largely passive phase the ribs fall
and untwist partly by their own elasticity and partly by the contractions of the muscles
attached to them.

It is not possible to bring about the diaphragmatic and chest movements of

respiration separately. There is, in fact, a close correspondence between chest and
diaphragmatic movement.Calculattions of the vital capacity is breathed in, one quarter
of the ventilation is due to chest expansion and three quarters to diaphragmatic
movement.