“Just breathe” - we’ve all probably seen this printed somewhere whether at a yoga studio, on the wall at your therapist’s office or I have no doubts it’s been shared via Facebook post with a beachy background. Regardless, we all know what breathing is. However, not all of us know how to breathe correctly.
A common breathing pattern I am constantly trying to get my patients to “un-learn” is what I call upper-chest breathing. This type of breathing is when you allow your chest and shoulders to rise and fall instead of letting your abdomen expand and fall with each breath. It commonly occurs in times of stress and anxiety because we resort to shorter and shallow breathing patterns. It’s also a common breathing pattern seen with my peri-natal patients due to the widening of the rib cage that occurs during pregnancy. Upper chest breathing negatively impacts the muscle activity in our shoulder and neck muscles and the kinematic process of our core and pelvic floor.
Are you still confused about what I am talking about? Take a large deep breath and see what happens with your chest and shoulders. Did they expand and lift upwards? What happened to your abdomen? Did it suck in with your inhale? If so, that’s upper chest breathing. When my patients demonstrate upper chest breathing, I immediately go into education on how to take a deeper diaphragmatic breath.
The Diaphragmatic Breath
Start with lying down in a comfortable position free of distraction
Place one hand on your chest and one on your belly
Inhale through your nose and fill your abdomen with air
Exhale through your mouth and allow all the air to leave your abdomen.
The hand on your chest should stay still while the hand on your abdomen gently rises and falls
Take your time and try to clear your mind of clutter for 2-5 minutes
Try in another comfortable position such as Child’s Pose
Adding a deeper breath to your workout preference helps with a plethora of bodily functions:
Increasing blood oxygen levels
Improving muscle function during exercise by reducing strain
Promotes HR and blood pressure reduction
Decreasing stress and anxiety (fight or flight response)
Promotes proper body and respiratory mechanics
The Diaphragm and The Pelvic Floor
Here is where I geek out a little…our diaphragm is the respiratory muscle just below our lungs but above our internal abdominal organs (see photo below). Then, we have our pelvic floor muscles that sit at the base of our abdominal cavity and aid in many functions regarding support, stability, sphincteric, and sexual capabilities.
In my opinion, our breathing and pelvic floor mechanics are one of the most overlooked components regarding our movement patterns. This is important because if our pelvic floor isn’t properly functioning, it will begin to allow for compensation around the core, lower back, lower extremities, and vice versa. In a perfect world, our diaphragm and pelvic floor should be working in cooperation with each other. However, this cannot occur if you’re utilizing the upper chest breathing pattern (shallow breathing). What should happen is as we inhale, our diaphragm descends, and our pelvic floor lengthens. Then, as we exhale our diaphragm rises and our pelvic floor gently lifts. This is an optimal movement pattern between your breath and your pelvic floor.
Are you confused about how your breathing mechanics could be affecting your potential? Sounds like it’s about time you book a session with me!
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