If you suffer from Neck Pain that is just not improving, no matter how much you rub and stretch, or it seems to be slowly getting worse. It might be time to check your breathing! If you are breathing with your upper chest (and neck muscles) – Shallow breathing, this wrongly tugs on your neck – thousands of times a day! And no amount of stretching or pain meds will fix that! Want to learn Why shallowing breathing is wrecking your neck? AND what you can do about it? Read on!

Want to read the transcript instead?

here it is…

Why Shallow Breathing Is Wrecking Your Neck

Why It Matters, And What You Can DO

  If your neck always feels tight, heavy, or constantly tired, we need to talk about how you’re breathing. Because shallow breathing could be one of the biggest hidden causes of neck pain for you, and most people have no idea that it’s even happening.

Hi, I’m Alexis Weidland, osteopath and co-founder of Blossoming Me and Healthy Learning Lounge, and today I’d like to share how your breathing habits affect your neck. How to spot the signs of shallow breathing and what to do to finally get relief.

Breathing

Breathing is meant to be effortless. Your diaphragm should do most of the work, expanding your ribs and drawing breath deeply into your whole body, into your abdomen. But in modern life, most people breathe high and shallow using their chest, their shoulders, and their neck. And here’s why that’s a problem.

The Issue

It over activates the scalenes, the sternocleidomastoid, and the upper traps, as well as the deeper muscles. And these muscles were not built for breathing, constant use 24 7. It keeps our nervous system in a low level stress state or maybe not that low. And it leads to constant tightness throughout your entire upper body, especially your neck.

Signs of Shallow Breathing

So here’s a quick test. Place one hand on your chest and one hand on your belly. Take a slow deep breath in. If the hand on top moves first or more than the bottom hand, you’re likely a shallower breather.

Other signs could be that you sigh a lot; you clench your jaw; you raise your shoulders a lot, or you may even notice that you raise them with each in breath; you feel tension into your throat and the back of your skull.

These are all signs that your neck is working over time just to get the air in.

What Does This Do?

Chronic shallow breathing changes how our whole body moves and functions. It can lead to poor oxygenation, increased pain sensitivity, altered posture, and tight, tense, overworked neck and shoulder muscles.

Unless you retrain on how to breathe, no amount of stretching is going to fix this.

So here are some tips.

• Breathe through your nose as often as you possibly can.
• Inhale into your lower ribs and belly and try not to use your shoulders at all.
• Slow your exhalation to downshift your nervous system.
  • So breathe out for longer than you’re breathing in.

At BlossomingMe

In our clinic, this is a core part of how we treat many people. If you have neck pain, we’re always going to look at how your rib cage functions. We restore ribcage function and breathing mechanics so that your neck doesn’t have to carry the excess load anymore.

Does this Sound Like You?

So if you’ve been stretching your neck and it seems to be getting you nowhere. It’s time to look deeper and lower. Next week, I’ll walk you through three rib cage restrictions that really specifically make your neck pain worse. And if you’re ready to start now, book your whole body reset assessment today.

Link in the comments or comment reset, and I’ll send you our ribcage toolkit.

Got Questions?

So that’s it for today. Did it raise any questions or aha moments? If so, I’d love to hear them. So please put those in the comment section. I love answering questions. I hope you found today useful. And if you know someone who could use this information, please share it. Remember to comment, like and subscribe.

Until next time and in health, bye for now.

Click the Button Below for my RibCage Reset min-course

Interested in further reading?

1. 1. Chronic Neck Pain and Respiratory Function
   2. Thoracic Mobility and Mechanical Neck Pain
   3. Influence of Thoracic Spine & Chest Mobility on Neck Pain
   4. Breathing Intervention Effects on Neck Pain & Posture 
   5. Diaphragmatic Breathing for Mechanical Neck Pain & Pulmonary Function
   6. Breathing Exercises for Neck Pain Management

About Blossoming Me

BlossomingMe offers a fully integrated approach to your wellbeing. Located on Sydney’s Upper North Shore. Sarah is our Cranio-sacral and Remedial Massage Therapist and health and lifestyle coach. She can help relieve those problematic knots, tightness and other specific ailments to promote a healthy recovery. These complementary massage therapies can be combined to suit your needs, and include: craniosacral therapy, shiatsu, acupressure, reiki, remedial, swedish, and body-mind-massage. 

Our qualified Osteopath, Alexis, offers a drug free, minimally invasive, “hands on” treatment focusing on the musculoskeletal system with its associated muscles, tendons, ligaments, membranes, bones and joints. Alexis takes a functional approach. This means that she focuses on the way a component (body part, tissue or group of tissues) performs its role, as well as the way the body works, performs and integrates as a whole. Our team can support you to improve your posture and therefore your overall health.