Stalled Fluid Flow In Body Confirms Importance Of Ribcage Movement

A chronic case of thoracomotionopathy is suspected to be the underlying cause of how well fluid flows in a Patient’s body. The prevalence of such cases appears to be on a sharp rise. At least that is the view expressed by body aquarium enthusiast and non-sequitur expert, Dr Jerry Nickelback. Dr Nickelback took time out of his busy schedule to talk our reporter through the pathophysiology of this alarming condition.

“I don’t have a lot of time, I’m sorry to say… I have a lot of pain I need to avoid chasing today” explained Dr Nickelback. “So anyway, let’s cut to the chase, shall we? It’s pretty simple, really. Ribcage movement is very important because it is ribcage motion that influences how much negative pressure you can obtain in the thorax. And it is negative pressure in the thorax which, in turn, determines how well fluids flow in the body”.

Following a request from our reporter to elaborate further on the details of these physiological relationships, Dr Nickelback replied with an understanding tone, “Look, this stuff is complex… Think of it this way. If you’ve got yourself a Patient with persistent lymphoedema in a lower limb, I’d strongly encourage you to convince yourself that poor ribcage movement is limiting negative pressure generation in the thorax. Go with that judgment even if the Patient is breathing apically with no signs of respiratory distress or decrease in blood-oxygen saturation. You see, the reduced capacity to generate negative thorax pressure might not be sufficient to manifest as even a minor disruption to the respiratory problem, but that’s fades into irrelevance if we can convincingly propose that changes in negative thorax pressure generation affect how well fluid flows in the body, generally, or in this hypothetical case, the edematous lower limb specifically. The restriction could be as simple as a stiff costovertebral joint or a pesky straitjacket… whatever the impediment is to ribcage movement, address that first, and then if that seems to help the swelling, you know you’re clinical judgment was spot on!”