The clinical implications of a poor breathing pattern
Karim Baz • January 20, 2022
We get born breathing right, Inhaling through the nose to the belly and then exhaling all the air out; but unfortunately, as we grow up and start to get distracted by different life “events” and start to accumulate emotional loads and arm our parasympathetic nervous system, this healthy breathing pattern disappears and gets substituted by an upper chest breathing pattern.
What is Upper chest breathing?
Upper chest breathing is the fact of inhaling air using the neck and the upper chest muscles that are supposed to be the accessory or complementary in the breathing process and not the main ones. The main muscle that should be involved in the inhalation and exhalation process is the diaphragm which is a dome-shaped muscle located over our abdominal content (Stomach, spleen, pancreas, large and small intestine)
Besides the various mental implications of poor or unhealthy breathing patterns, here are some of its clinical implications:
- Neck pain and headaches: as we breathe incorrectly, we use mostly the muscles of the neck, upper chest, and back. These muscles are supposed to be accessory muscles in the breathing process, and using them as the main ones creates contractions and stiffness in the whole neck and upper back area; as the neck muscles are directly connected to the ribs, Thoracic outlet syndrome might happen.
What is Thoracic outlet syndrome?
- Thoracic outlet syndrome: One of its reasons is upper chest breathing. As the neck muscles are connected to the rib, an upper chest breather will be pulling up the rib with each inhalation up into the collarbone – clavicle, where there are many nerves, veins, and an artery; and as the upper chest breathing persists, we start compromising the whole “structure” that goes into our upper arm and pressing on all the structure that passes beneath the bone.
- Shoulder impingement and pain: Our first two to three upper ribs belong to the shoulder system and upper chest breathing sets them in the wrong position, and as a result, all the muscles in between the ribs go into more tightness and we end up having problems with the neck rotation and the shoulder movement.
- Loss of the abdominal deep core: The diaphragm is the top of the core, the pelvic floor is the bottom, a muscle called TA or Transversus Abdominus goes around the center of the abdomen, and another small muscle on the side of the spine called Multifidus which controls the sheer of the spine; once the diaphragm loses its strength, the core loses its ability to be pressurized and protect and stabilize the spine which usually results in low back pain, chronic hip pain, lateral knee pain, the feeling of pinching on the inside of the hip, etc…
- Abdominal pain and IBS symptoms: Upper chest breathing is usually linked to fast breathing; once we start to breathe a fast way, there is a big probability that we hyperventilate and as a result, we manipulate the PH of our blood system so we start to increase the tightness of muscles and the sensitivity and reactivity of the nervous system.
- Scoliosis: Having our deep core weak and having the muscles that support us inactive, results in issues like scoliosis with time, which usually occurs at the age of 50 or 60 because the deep core is less functional which affects all the muscles and structure.
- Fibromyalgia and chronic pain: both as well related sometimes to breathing patterns disorders because breathing wrong is capable of activating the parasympathetic nervous system and as mentioned above, manipulating the PH of the blood, which causes the increase in tone and tension in the muscles.
It sometimes feels easier to blame the office chair for our lower back pain - which let’s be honest, sometimes it is a fact - Or to blame life in general for the anxiety moment we are passing through, than to take responsibility and make a step towards a healthier and more “sustainable” way of dealing with these consequences by dedicating a very tiny part of our day to the well-being of our body, the fact that will reflect on the well-being of our minds.
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