As you know, breathing is an essential part of keeping yourself alive. Without breath, or the oxygen that we breathe in when we inhale, we would not be able to sustain life. However, what you may not know is there is actually an incorrect, or less inefficient way to breathe.
There is a dome-shaped muscle located directly below the lungs known as the diaphragm. The diaphragm is the most efficient muscle of breathing, but it requires the muscles of the core to assist it to allow the lungs to reach their full capacity. When there is a subluxation of the vertebral column (spine), the core muscles are some of the first muscles to be compromised/turned off, which means that breathing is also of the first functions of the body that is compromised.
You may have noticed that you breathe up and out into your ribcage, and if you've been doing this for a while it will seem normal to you. Do you notice that if you've had a long day of sitting that your upper back is stiff or achy? Your ribs are attached to your spine, which means that when you breathe out through your ribcage, you're putting a lot of pressure on your spine as well.
Diaphragmatic breathing is a technique used to strengthen and retrain the diaphragm which will then decrease the “work” of breathing, decrease oxygen demand (as you'll be bringing more in with the deeper breaths), and decrease the effort/energy it takes to breathe overall. Not only that but the stress being put on the spine will also be decreased when you breathe more efficiently.
How do you know if you're breathing through your chest or stomach (diaphragm)?
Lay on your back on a flat surface, knees slightly bent, one hand on your chest, the other on your stomach just below your rib cage. Breathe in through your nose as you normally would, does the hand on your chest move up and down? If it does, you're not breathing as efficiently as you could be! Try again, but this time the hand on your chest should stay as still as possible, and you should feel the hand on your stomach moving. Exhale through your mouth, again, trying to minimize the movement of the hand on your chest.
To increase the difficulty of this exercise, you can sit a little more upright into a chair or place a small book on your abdomen to increase the resistance.
The more often you practice this technique, the easier it will become. It is recommended that you perform ~5-10 minutes of diaphragmatic breathing 3-4 times per day. You may find it tiring it at first, but it will become almost automatic if you're dedicated to your training!
