|
Ooof! We hate it when that happens. You take a bad fall or a karate chop to the gut, and suddenly you can't take a full breath. While the origin of the phrase seems rather obvious (breath, wind, etc.), what's really going on? According to one doctor as well as the ever-useful Straight Dope column, it's all about your diaphragm. This dome-shaped muscle sits below your lungs, and it helps your windbags inhale and exhale. When you get hit in the abdomen, this can cause a pressure difference that makes your diaphragm spasm for a few seconds. You can't catch your breath until the
spasm stops. Getting the wind knocked out of you is usually a temporary problem that rights itself. Some defense specialists recommend blows to this area to briefly incapacitate an attacker. Ouch.
|
