Breathing exercises
In a normal, healthy breathing pattern, it is the movement of the diaphragm (situated below the ribcage) that makes your lungs inhale and exhale. However, in many people the role of the diaphragm has been taken over by the muscles of the upper chest. Breathing with the upper chest is normal when you are running, but not during everyday activities or when you are resting.
If you use the upper chest to breathe, it is more likely you are a shallow breather. The muscles that are stressed by a regular upper-chest breathing pattern can become tense and painful, and may even develop trigger points. These muscles are the ones that lie between your shoulders and your neck and that attach to the neck, front and back, and to your ribs and shoulder blades. They are the same muscles that are often associated with chronic head, neck and shoulder pain.
Breathing is not just about taking in the right amount of oxygen, but also about expelling the right amount of carbon dioxide. When you breathe rapidly, in an upper-chest pattern, you may get rid of too much carbon dioxide, with the result that your blood becomes more alkaline. When this happens cetain unwelcome changes take place, one of the most notable being you become more sensitive to pain. Another symptom is that your muscles become tenser and more prone to cramp, and feelings of pins-and-needles.
To find out what your breathing pattern is, try a simple exercise known as the hi-lo test. Stand or sit in front of a mirror with one hand flat on your upper chest and the other flat on your stomach, just below your lowest ribs. Take a medium deep breath and see what your hands do. If the stomach hand moves first and there is not much movement at all in the upper hand, this suggests a diaphragmatic pattern, which is good news. If the upper hand moves first and/or upwards towards the chin, this suggests an upper-chest pattern of breathing.
The good news is an upper-chest pattern of breathing is a pattern of use (like posture), and can be fixed by substituting new patterns of use. The exercises here are designed to help you achieve just that.
