Can breathing really help with pain?

Deep breathing, it's amazing. It helps to oxygenate our organs and muscles. But can it really help to reduce pain and tension? The short answer? YES

We breathe 25,000+ times each and every day. Breathing primarily involves the diaphragm and when breathing appropriately, it can be our greatest ally when it comes to building core strength, reducing tension and improving stress levels. However, when done incorrectly it can push us down a path leading towards muscle tightness and imbalances, joint pain and worse.

It sounds odd that we are likely using our neck muscles too much when breathing however two major contributors to this are the clothes that we wear in conjunction with the amount of sitting we do. These two factors prompt us to use our neck and chest muscles for breathing as opposed to our diaphragms. Think of what happens when you take a big breathe in through your belly, your belly "bloats" outwards. When we are wearing tight fitting clothing, for instance, that prevents the belly from "bloating" outwards forcing the chest and ribs to have to pull upwards instead. If you are having neck, shoulder or back pain, come have your breathing assessed!