Dana Santas,Mobility Makeris a certified strength and conditioning expert in professional sports, mental and physical coach, and is the author of the book “Practical Solutions for Relieving Back Pain.”
If you are dealing with persistent tension, poor posture, or persistent pain, it is worth checking your breathing. The way you breathe not only reflects the quality of your movement, but also retains the power to change it for the better.
Most people understand the role of breathing as a life support function with stress-relieving properties. (Think – deep inhalation, deep breath.) But the way you breathe can reveal how efficiently and effectively you move. And improving breathing will help your body escape from cycles of tension, imbalance and poor strain.
Shallow and rapid breathing can not only affect oxygen exchange, but also disrupt the basics of how the body works. So much of my job in professional sports focuses on teaching the basics of breathing in biomechanics. We first saw that insufficient breathing patterns directly lead to limited mobility, postural issues, chronic pain and increased risk of injury.
In today’s high stress, screen-focused world, these same dysfunctional breathing patterns are common across all walks.
However, by better aware of your patterns and practicing the appropriate techniques for a few minutes each day, you can deal with false breaths. Here’s how to unlock a Super Power:
How stress and screen time can change breath
Breathing is one of the most basic patterns of movement in the body, and occurs on average over 23,000 times a day. The contraction of the diaphragm plays an important role. However, under stress, your body will naturally transition into sympathetic or combat modes of the nervous system, driving faster, shallower breaths from the top of the chest. Over time, this becomes the default breathing pattern, especially in chronic stress. Your breathing is more vertical on the chest and neck, rather than expanding the lungs and thoracic cage horizontally.
This upper pattern bypasses the diaphragm, forces the neck and shoulder muscles, and takes over the task of pulling each breath. If the diaphragm is not functioning properly, true core engagement requires this large muscle to work in harmony with the deep abdominal and pelvic floor muscles, which cannot serve as a secondary role as a postural stabilizer.
The diaphragm adheres to both the thorax and the spine, resulting in poor engagement and instability of the core, causing shifting thoracic position. When the ribs step out of alignment, the spine and head continue, and the scapula glide over the ribs, affecting the position and function of the shoulders as well.
As the neck is extended, the rib cage is lifted and the flare is extended, anterior head posture occurs. Additionally, rib mobility decreases and limits intermediate rotation and expansion, which are essential for healthy exercise patterns. Overall, motility is reduced and the risk of injury increases as you respond to increased core instability by creating protective tension and muscle compensation.
This creates a vicious cycle. Your breath affects your posture, your posture affects your breath, both affecting the way you feel and move.
People often try to deal with these problems with just stretching and strength tasks, but they remain stuck in a dysfunctional pattern without changing the respiratory mechanics.
One of the easiest ways to assess breathing is to lie down on your back with your knees bent and your feet on the floor. Place the underlying rib on either side of the area where the rib is divided under the sternum.
Take a deep breath and spend some time, realizing where the movement is occurring. If the neck, upper chest, or shoulders are tight or moving, or if the ribs are barely moving, they are signs of breathing shallow and not using the diaphragm effectively.
Rather than focusing on the so-called “abdominal breathing,” it focuses on the mobility and diaphragmatic function of the rib, rather than the term often used to promote relaxation but often biomechanically misleading. The slight distension of the abdomen is the result of an increase in intraabdominal pressure and is not exposed to air. Too much emphasis on abdominal movement can inhibit proper thoracic expansion and diaphragmatic mechanics over time.
Try taking a few more breaths and directing your breath into the lung space below the rib bone. With each inhalation, it feels like the rib bone expands laterally under the hand. With each exhale, the rib moves downwards and the lower rib moves, promoting natural core engagement to support movement.
If you have identified a potential problem with your breathing pattern, the next step is to learn to retrain it. While many people focus on deep inhalation to improve breathing, the real key to breaking the pattern of dysfunction is how you exhale. Exhausting plays a crucial role in regulating the nervous system, restoring diaphragmatic function, and improving stress resistance.
Exhale completely slowly and stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system. This is a branch that calms the body and promotes recovery. Also, a long, full breath helps reset the diaphragm position, allowing it to contract more effectively on the next breath.
Oxygen tends to attract most attention, but this process is closely linked to carbon dioxide resistance. Co₂ causes the urge to breathe. However, chronically breeding your body takes up more oxygen than it can use will reduce CO2 levels faster. This can make chemoreceptors, specialized sensors in the brain stems, and arteries that monitor joint levels in the blood become overly sensitive, and even with proper oxygen levels, can cause feelings of shortness of breath.
By exhaling slowly and long, training yourself to slightly increase your carbon dioxide levels can improve breathing efficiency and increase stress resilience.
Sit comfortably with your hands on the rib below to monitor and guide movement.
Inhale your nose for four counts.
For the count of eight people, exhale slowly through your nose or mouth (whatever is best for you).
A quick pause about two people’s counts when they finish exhale.
Repeat this pattern with 10-12 breaths to relax your face, chin, neck and shoulders.
As you practice this every day and build tolerance, it gradually increases to a 5:10 or 6:12 ratio. This breathing work helps restore diaphragmatic function and rib mobility to readjust the nervous system and apply pressure to keep it gentle.
The recognition and proficiency developed through regular breathing work practices become even stronger when applied to physical activity. Integrating improved respiratory mechanics into daily life will make movements feel more fluid, connected and efficient.
Here’s how to apply better breathing during training:
• Warm up with conscious breathing To create posture alignment, activate the core and increase focus.
• Exhale into exercise: In strength training, exhale in the effort stage to engage with the core and stabilize the spine.
• Breathing leads to mobility: During a rotating or flexible drill, use the inhaler to create space, exhale and deepen movement.
• Breathe in your nose During light to moderate aerobic exercise to improve oxygen utilization and maintain breathing patterns.
• Tension breath to recover: After workout, practice a 2:1 inhalation ratio to downregulate the nervous system.
Remember, your breathing is not just a background function. By restoring proper breathing, it supports better posture, deeper core strength, smoother movement and a more resilient nervous system.
So, the next time you feel your neck feels tight or your shoulder hurts, don’t try to stretch it out immediately. Check your breath first. It may be telling you exactly what you need to know.
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