Breathing is something we do thousands of times every day without thinking about it. But what happens when the way you breathe becomes less efficient?
Most of us think about breathing as simply getting air in and out. But breathing is also movement. Every breath requires coordinated movement of the diaphragm, ribs, spine, abdominal wall and surrounding muscles.
When that movement becomes restricted or poorly coordinated, the body has to find another way to get the air it needs. Over time, that can create a cycle of tension, reduced movement, and even more restricted breathing.
Signs of breathing problems you shouldn’t ignore
Breathing dysfunction isn’t some rare problem that only happens to a small group of people.
There are many different reasons someone may not be breathing optimally, ranging from posture and musculoskeletal restrictions to stress, anxiety, nasal obstruction, respiratory conditions and sleep-related breathing disorders. Some breathing problems are much more significant than simply having a stiff rib cage.
Sleep apnoea, for example, is increasingly recognised as an important health issue. Obstructive sleep apnoea occurs when the upper airway repeatedly becomes blocked or restricted during sleep, causing breathing to stop or become significantly reduced. You may not even know you’re doing it.
Some signs that your sleep breathing may need attention include:
- loud or persistent snoring
- waking up gasping, choking or snorting
- waking with a dry mouth
- morning headaches
- waking frequently throughout the night
- feeling tired despite getting what should be enough sleep
- difficulty concentrating during the day
- excessive daytime sleepiness
- your partner noticing that you stop breathing during sleep
If any of these sound familiar, particularly if someone has noticed pauses in your breathing while you’re asleep, it’s worth speaking with your GP or another appropriate healthcare professional. Poor sleep isn’t always a sleep problem. Sometimes it’s a breathing problem happening while you sleep.
9 signs of poor breathing mechanics
Breathing is automatic, so most people have never actually watched themselves breathe.
Try this:
Set your phone up and film yourself breathing normally for 30 seconds. Don’t change anything. Don’t take deeper breaths. Just breathe the way you normally would. Then watch it back. You may notice things you weren’t aware of.
Were you breathing through your nose or your mouth?
At rest, nasal breathing is generally preferable. Your nose helps filter, warm and humidify the air you breathe, and nasal breathing also plays an important role in normal airway function. Mouth breathing may be necessary during exercise, or when your nasal passages are blocked, but if you regularly find yourself mouth breathing at rest, it’s worth paying attention to why.
Then look at the rest of your breathing pattern.
Some signs that your breathing mechanics may not be working as efficiently as they could include:
- Upper-chest breathing: most of the movement happens high in the chest rather than through the lower rib cage.
- Excessive accessory muscle use: you can visibly see the muscles around your neck, shoulders or upper chest working with every breath.
- Shoulder elevation: your shoulders repeatedly lift as you inhale.
- Limited rib cage expansion: there is very little movement through the sides or back of the rib cage.
- Paradoxical breathing: parts of the chest or abdomen move in the opposite direction to what you would expect during breathing.
- Asymmetrical breathing: one side of the rib cage appears to move considerably more than the other.
- Very shallow breathing: your breaths are consistently small and restricted rather than allowing comfortable expansion.
- Breath holding: you regularly pause or hold your breath without consciously intending to.
- Noisy or effortful breathing: breathing sounds strained, laboured or noticeably effortful even when you’re resting.
One sign on its own doesn’t necessarily mean something is wrong. Breathing naturally changes with exercise, stress, posture, illness and many other factors. But if you watch yourself and think, “Why are my shoulders moving that much just to breathe?” or “Why am I breathing through my mouth when I’m just sitting here?”, that’s worth paying attention to.
How your diaphragm and rib cage work together
The diaphragm is the primary muscle of inspiration. When you breathe in, it contracts and moves downward, helping create the pressure needed to draw air into the lungs. At the same time, the lower ribs should expand outward, and the rib cage should move in multiple directions. This doesn’t mean your chest shouldn’t move. Your entire rib cage participates in breathing.
The problem is when the movement becomes dominated by the upper chest and accessory muscles rather than allowing the diaphragm and rib cage to do their share of the work. Your accessory breathing muscles include muscles such as the scalenes and sternocleidomastoid in the neck, along with other muscles around the upper chest and shoulder girdle. These muscles can help lift and expand the rib cage when breathing demand increases.
This is completely normal when you need more air. Think about a soccer player late in a game. They’re breathing hard. Their demand for oxygen has increased dramatically, so the body recruits additional muscles to help increase ventilation. That’s exactly what those muscles are there for.
The problem isn’t using accessory muscles. The problem is needing them for every breath at rest. We take roughly 20,000 breaths a day. That’s a lot of repetition. If your breathing strategy relies heavily on muscles around your neck and upper chest for thousands of those breaths, those muscles aren’t getting much of a break.
What causes poor breathing mechanics?
There isn’t one single cause. Your breathing pattern can be influenced by your posture, the mobility of your spine and ribs, muscular tension, previous injuries, stress, physical activity, nasal congestion, habitual mouth breathing and the way you have learned to breathe over time.
For example, spending hours sitting at a desk with your head forward and shoulders rounded can change the position of the rib cage. If the thoracic spine and ribs become stiff, the rib cage may not expand as easily. If the ribs don’t expand well, the diaphragm and surrounding muscles have less movement to work with. The body then finds another way to get the air it needs.
You may start lifting more through your upper chest. Your neck muscles may become more involved. Your shoulders may start moving with every breath. And if that pattern continues, the muscles doing the extra work can become tight and fatigued. This creates a potential cycle:
Reduced rib movement → altered breathing mechanics → increased muscular tension → further restriction → reduced rib movement. And because you’re breathing thousands of times every day, you’re constantly reinforcing whatever pattern your body has adopted.
Can poor breathing mechanics cause neck and shoulder tension?
This is where breathing becomes particularly interesting from a musculoskeletal perspective. Imagine your rib cage gradually becoming stiffer. You take a breath, but instead of expanding easily through the lower ribs and abdomen, you lift more through the upper chest.
Your neck muscles work harder. Your shoulders may subtly elevate. Your thoracic spine may move less. Your rib cage continues to lose mobility. You then rely even more heavily on the muscles that are already working too hard.
Over thousands of breaths, that repeated movement can contribute to persistent muscular tension. This doesn’t mean poor breathing mechanics are the cause of every neck, shoulder or back problem. But breathing is one piece of the movement system that is often overlooked.
What does a healthy breathing pattern look like?
At rest, breathing should feel relatively effortless.
Rather than aggressively pulling air into the upper chest, we want to see coordinated movement through the rib cage, diaphragm and abdomen. On an inhale, you should ideally be able to feel expansion: front → sides → back rather than everything simply moving upward.
The breath should be quiet, controlled and relatively relaxed. Your neck and shoulders shouldn’t feel like they’re doing all the work. You shouldn’t have to consciously control every breath. The goal isn’t to spend your entire day thinking about breathing. The goal is to give your body the mobility and coordination it needs so that breathing can happen efficiently in the background.
Why breathing mechanics matter for exercise and movement
You can have excellent strength, mobility and fitness and still have breathing mechanics that could be improved. You might be doing Pilates, lifting weights, running, playing sport or stretching regularly, but if your rib cage isn’t moving well or your breathing strategy isn’t well coordinated, you may be compensating somewhere else.
This is particularly important because breathing interacts with the way we stabilise and move the trunk. You can’t always build better movement on top of a system that isn’t moving well underneath it. That doesn’t mean you need to “fix your breathing” before doing anything else. It means breathing should be considered as part of the bigger picture.
How chiropractic may help with rib mobility and breathing mechanics
At Pittwater Chiro, we look at the body as a connected movement system. When appropriate, your assessment may include looking at the mobility of your thoracic spine, ribs and surrounding muscles, as well as how your breathing and posture interact with your movement.
Chiropractic can help address musculoskeletal restrictions that may be contributing to reduced movement, using techniques such as spinal and rib mobilisation or adjustment, soft-tissue work and breathing-based exercises.
The goal isn’t to force you into one “perfect” breathing pattern. It’s to help restore the movement and awareness needed for your body to breathe efficiently and comfortably.
Sometimes the area that feels tight isn’t the only thing worth looking at. Your neck might be working harder because your rib cage isn’t moving well. Your shoulders might feel restricted because your thoracic spine is stiff. Your lower back might be compensating for a lack of movement elsewhere. Your breathing may be part of that picture.
Why I recommend breathing exercises to patients
Breathing is something I often assess with patients because it can be an overlooked part of their movement pattern. I’ve had patients who come in with neck tension, shoulder issues, headaches or movement asymmetries, only to find that their breathing mechanics are contributing to the way they move.
Once we start working on their breathing and rib cage movement, they often become much more aware of these patterns and can start making changes. That’s why breathing exercises can be an important part of a treatment plan. Sometimes improving the way you breathe is the first step towards improving the way you move.
Could your breathing be affecting your movement?
Breathing is an important part of movement, but it’s often overlooked when assessing persistent neck tension, shoulder discomfort and restricted upper back mobility.
At Pittwater Chiro, we look at how your spine, ribs and surrounding muscles work together. Where appropriate, we can assess whether musculoskeletal restrictions or altered breathing mechanics may be contributing to your symptoms.
With clinics in Mona Vale and Balgowlah, our team can help you better understand your movement and develop an individualised management plan.
