We all know that breathing is essential — that’s a given.
But what we don’t often acknowledge is how breathing can affect our movement and training.
To clarify, we aren’t just talking about the pacing or rhythm of your breaths! We’re referring to breathing as a part of movement: the way your muscles contract, the way your abdominal wall expands, the way your rib cage and spine move to match your breathing.
Breathing is one of the few movements that is necessary all the time, and it creates a foundation upon which all of our other movements are based on.
Therefore, if you have “faulty” breathing, you consequently have faulty movement.
It might sound vague at first, but if there’s one thing that research has shown us about movement, it’s that every element matters. Even the slightest nuances can have a ripple effect that lead to resounding impacts on the big picture.
How Breathing Affects Core Stability
Before we begin, there’s a brief disclaimer to this blog.
Breathing is multifaceted, and there are countless techniques that can be leveraged for different focuses and health benefits. In our clinic, we dial into the musculoskeletal benefits — that is, how breathing affects your core stabilization.
Consider where your breathing comes from… It obviously starts in your lungs, but beyond that, breathing occurs at the core.
It affects the way your bony anatomy and musculature move, including the diaphragm, abdominal muscles, back muscles, and pelvic floor. With your breathing patterns affecting so many different parts of your core, it has a direct impact on the way you stabilize your entire body.
This is why we emphasize the importance of the functional core in physical therapy: the true core goes well beyond a set of six-pack abs! Ultimately, your limbs are so deeply interconnected with your trunk and abdomen that their movement and control are impacted by how well (or poorly) you can master core stability.
In order to master this all-encompassing definition of core stabilization, you have to start at the root with your breathing! Focus on learning how to use those four main components — the diaphragm, pelvic floor, abdominals, and back muscles — in a coordinated pattern.
You can think of these muscle groups as something of a “chain.” If you coordinate all the muscles and still present some level of instability, you can better identify what the “weak link” is in your breathing and movement. This is the first step in correcting any musculoskeletal dysfunctions, and it will allow you to then address issues in your limb movement (anything from shoulder pain while hitting a volleyball to calf pain while running!).
Common Errors with Breathing and Posture
Even if you don’t have any inherent issues with your ability to breathe, there’s a solid chance that there are some minor musculoskeletal errors with the motions of breathing.
Most of it comes down to small nuances in our everyday posture. One of the most common errors we see is excessive anterior pelvic tilt, or when your pelvic bone is angled more forward than is ideal.
As the pelvis tilts farther forward, it pulls your pelvic muscles inward, thus restricting their ability to expand in order to stabilize the body. To compensate for the lack of stability, your body forces more pressure into your abdominal wall, which can cause weakness in your abdominal muscles and low back muscles. This then interrupts how well your diaphragm and pelvic floor coordinate with one another and how well they can stabilize the body.
Another common error we see is excessive external rotation of the ribs, on one or both sides. This is where the bones in your rib cage rotate outward more than is necessary, pulling your diaphragm away from its optimal position.
As a result, your diaphragm is unable to properly stabilize the abdominal cavity, and the muscles in your abdomen and back are weakened in this suboptimal position. Without sufficient strength in your back muscles, the spinal discs, nerves, and vertebrae are compressed under excessive loading.
Issues with pelvic and diaphragm positioning are common culprits behind diagnoses like sciatica or other true spinal problems. They create similar symptoms, like the telltale tingling sensations or occasional shooting pain through the limbs.
Perhaps it sounds like an exaggeration to claim that all of these problems stem from improper breathing — but our biomechanics are all about the nuances. Even the slightest deviations in movement can cause ripple effects that eventually lead to longer term issues and pain!
How to Assess Your Breathing
Now, we aren’t telling you all of this to scare you: improper breathing mechanics are a natural development if you aren’t actively training the necessary muscles. We simply want to emphasize that movement impairments and pain can ultimately boil down to minute issues in the foundation of our breathing.
But, what can be identified as an issue can be corrected with the proper technique!
Work with a Trained Professional
For musculoskeletal focuses, the main correction is to assess alignment and ensure that those primary muscle groups are functioning as needed.
Every practitioner performs these assessments differently — in our clinic, we use visual landmarks, video analysis, and careful assessment of joint movement. (The combination of expertise backed by data provides a more specific, measurable route to progress.) Our team will also test the strength and functionality of your muscles in isolation and how they work all together.
Keep in mind that breathing and postural assessment is most effective with a practitioner! Your brain is already familiar with its musculoskeletal movement patterns, so it’s difficult to perform a truly objective assessment on yourself. Having a trained clinician to guide you through proper form will help you stay accountable to new movement patterns.
Practice Foundational Exercises
The specific exercises you need to retrain your breathing patterns and posture can vary depending on the pain or injury you’re recovering from. But for the most part, just about everyone can benefit from foundational breathing exercises.
For instance, a majority of people work desk jobs and have to sit for long periods of time! Even if you’re an active individual outside of work, if you’re sitting for hours with improper posture and breathing, that sedentary period can interrupt optimal breathing and stabilization. (Those patterns will then carry over into your activities…)
After you and your practitioner have determined the strength and functionality of those main muscle groups, they can help you structure the best set of exercises to train proper posture and breathing. Oftentimes, you will find that these exercises are simple in theory but complex when trying to execute them, as you are trying to combat years of compensatory posture and breathing patterns!
Take a Deep Breath
We know that not everyone is familiar with the concept of breathing as the root of all our movement, and because it’s such a nuanced approach, it can be difficult to truly understand it just by reading about it.
Ultimately, the goal is to view your breathing and posture like any other movement. It requires proper muscle activation and strength to perform well, and you can implement targeted exercises to improve your movement patterns.
And if you don’t proactively train your postural muscles, your body will settle into suboptimal movement patterns that lead to a less stable core, then further compensations, and eventually pain or injury in the long term.So keep your breathing in check! Speak with a movement specialist who can help you identify your breathing patterns and core stability — start from the true root of your movement.
