Breathing Wrong? Your Back Knows

To belly breathe or not to belly breathe? That is the question. The way you have been breathing may be compromising your spine. If your breathing lives exclusively in your chest, your spine may be working overtime…and it’s not thrilled about it.

The Diaphragm Is Not Just for Oxygen

The diaphragm is a dual-purpose muscle. The primary purpose is respiration, but did you know the diaphragm plays a key role in spinal stabilization? The dome-shaped muscle works in coordination with the pelvic floor, deep abdominal muscles, and the thoracolumbar fascia to create intra-abdominal pressure. Intra-abdominal pressure provides the lower back with support and keeps the lower back stabilized.

What Happens When We Breathe Shallow

Chest-dominant breathing is pretty automatic. When the chest takes over, the diaphragm loses efficiency to stabilize the core. The loss of stabilization may cause other biomechanical problems. Our neck and shoulder muscles start to compensate, and our ribcage mobility tends to decrease.

Shallow breathing leads to increased spinal load, altered movement patterns, and higher risk of chronic neck and low back pain.

Multiple studies show dysfunctional breathing patterns are more prevalent in individuals with chronic spinal pain.

So How Can We Help: Chiropractic Care’s Role

Chiropractic care may help by:

• Restoring thoracic spine and rib motion

• Reducing muscular guarding

• Improving posture that supports diaphragmatic breathing

• Pairing care with breathing retraining

This is biomechanics, not breathing “trends.”

Bottom Line

Chest breathing compromises mobility, diaphragm activation, and spinal function. You can’t out-adjust poor breathing mechanics. Your spine needs diaphragm to cooperate.

References

• Hodges PW, Gandevia SC. Diaphragm function and postural control. J Physiol.

• Janssens L et al. Breathing pattern disorders and low back pain. Spine.

• NIH. Respiratory mechanics and posture.