Your posture affects everything from your bones, joints and muscles to your balance and digestion, but its effects on breathing are often overlooked or simply ignored. Unfortunately, poor posture is directly linked to poor diaphragm mobility, poor chest and lung expansion, and shallow breathing.
How Posture Affects Breathing
Try slouching down in your seat or bending all the way back to look at the ceiling, and taking a deep breath in to see how it feels. Now sit up nice and tall, but still relaxed, and take a deep breath in. You likely noticed that sitting up straight, but relaxed, allowed you to breathe in with less effort. This is because the position of your spine, especially your mid back called the thoracic spine, directly impacts how well your ribs are able to move out of the way and allow the lungs to expand. The easier your ribs are to move out of the way, the easier it is to get air in.
Poor posture also causes your abdominal muscles to compress, limiting the ability of your primary breathing muscle, the diaphragm, to pull air into the lungs. When the diaphragm is hindered by poor posture, the body may rely on less efficient accessory muscles in the neck and shoulders to breathe. This can lead to strain and discomfort, and cause the shoulders to round, perpetuating the poor posture-shallow breathing cycle.
How to Improve Breathing Through Posture
To improve breathing through posture, consciously keep your shoulders back, chest lifted, and core muscles engaged to optimize diaphragm movement. Stretch regularly to relax tight muscles in your chest, neck and shoulders, and perform core strengthening exercises to support good posture. You can also try this mindful breathing exercise to improve diaphragmatic breathing. As a bonus, this breathing exercise can also be used to down-regulate your nervous system, reduce stress, and calm the body.
Mindful Breathing Exercise
- Place one hand on your stomach and the other on your chest. This will provide real time feedback to determine if you are performing the breathing technique correctly.
- Relax your face, neck and shoulders, while maintaining your good posture.
- Take a gentle breath in, allowing only the hand on your stomach to move. If you feel your chest moving with your other hand, you are recruiting muscles that are not designed to always be active for breathing and these can lead to other problems.
Physical Therapy for Posture & Breathing
If you find yourself slouching, or you suspect poor posture is affecting your breathing, our physical therapists can perform a posture assessment and develop a personalized treatment plan with stretching and strengthening exercises designed to improve your posture and increase breathing efficiency. To schedule an appointment in Queensbury, Saratoga Springs, Malta and Delmar, call Capital Area Physical Therapy at (518) 289-5242.
