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Why look at how you Breathe when you have a shoulder problem?

Writer's picture: Trevor KillickTrevor Killick

There are many reasons to look at how you breathe including the effect it could have on your shoulder motion. It may not be the first thing that you consider though when you have a shoulder issue.


You may have decided to do a few stretches or some strength exercises to see what benefits they may bring. If these do not work over the weeks, you may seek other methods to help improve your shoulder issue.


If we look at breathing in general, we know through research that if you are a mouth breather you would tend to be an upper chest breather, this may influence the position of your ribs and cause them to be raised in the front. You may find it difficult in this instance to take a deep breath in, the usual reason being - it is harder for you to get a good breath out, due to the ribs being overly raised and you can often end up trying to take another breath in after this partial breath out. This could be due to the way you have breathed for a long time or may have been something you have reverted to if you’ve had a particularly stressful job or situation that has changed how you breath.


Your breathing can influence how well you can relax, your stress levels, your fitness, your position or posture, and some have been affected in their sporting performance or singing careers through how well they breath. How well you sleep could also be helped by better breathing.


How does this affect your shoulder?

If your ribs are overly raised at the front due to being a mouth breather it can make a difference on your mobility around the shoulder joint, accessory muscles like the scalenes, pec minor or subclavius, can become tight as you constantly try to get a better breath in. The tightness in the muscles can affect movement around the shoulder, stretching and strengthening could help, but with you breathing around 20,000 times a day you could be overloading these muscles, and the exercises may not be the answer.


It could also be that you are breathing differently on the right than the left. It sounds odd, but If you look at some of the differences between the left & Right - the right lung has three lobes and the left lung has two lobes, the right hemi diaphragm is larger and in a better position than the left hemi diaphragm for breathing, the heart is on the left side so makes it easier to expand the left chest wall compared to the right. Now these differences are normal, but influences in our daily life, sports and work can cause further imbalances to the way you breathe that can start causing problems, which in this instance could show up as a shoulder issue.


With a shoulder that is not moving well - you will probably notice a restriction in mobility or an ache or pain in certain positions of the arm, it may also show up in your walking gait where one arm will swing better than the other. Your body may then compensate to these restrictions.


As well as working on your breathing through different exercises, you will also need to restore function on certain muscle groups surrounding the shoulder and muscles around the ribcage and core.
























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