Stop Belly Breathing! Do this instead to strengthen your diaphragm and reduce stress to your body.

Did you know that simply by activating your diaphragm while breathing you can reduce stress, detoxify, and oxygenate the blood in your body all at once? It was amazing to me when I heard that. I was even more shocked to hear that generally, our diaphragms have been getting thinner from the 80s and 90s versus today. But the biggest shock of all was to hear that belly breathing is NOT the best way to strengthen the diaphragm! Why does all that matter? Well, if we aren't breathing with diaphragm, we are breathing with the chest.

The simple act of breathing can impact so many aspects of our health, and it starts with the diaphragm, an umbrella like muscle that attaches at our ribs underneath our lungs.

Chest breathing is when the ribs and shoulders are used instead of the diaphragm. When we use our ribs and shoulders instead of our diaphragm, a few things happen. First, we don't get as much air filling the lungs, which will have less oxygenation to the blood and tissues. Less volume in means less volume out and so we breathe out less carbon dioxide too. Carbon dioxide is often a byproduct of the chemistry that goes on in our body and exiting our body through our breath is an important way that we detox from this excess used chemistry. Since the breathing is more shallow, chest breathing also triggers our body's stress response. In summary, chest breathing puts us in stress mode, reduces our detoxification processes, and deoxygenates our blood and tissues.

Diaphragm breathing, as mentioned above, does the exact opposite of that. So by simply changing our breathing, we can reduce stress, increase oxygen to our blood and tissues, and aid in our body's detoxification efficiency! Being out of stress and into ease is so important because stress prevents us from healing and rebuilding. The action of the diaphragm, which is an umbrella like muscle underneath our lungs, when activated will not only increase our lung volume, but also give gentle pressure to our organs of digestion which aids in the movements needed for digestion. So diaphragm breathing helps our digestion in two ways: pulling us out of stress mode and allowing our body to rest and digest, and aiding in the passive movements (peristalsis) of our digestive organs like the small and large intestines.

Do you need more reason to stop chest breathing and start using that diaphragm? How about this: In addition to those benefits above, diaphragmatic breathing can also help with lower back pain and spasm!

I took the liberty of starring some key anatomy with this beautiful illustration I found online. It's the view of the diaphragm from below the ribcage.

In this diagram I found off ye olde internet, you can see that the diaphragm has attachments to the lumbar spine, quadratus lumborum (QL) muscle, and psoas major muscle. When there is instability and weakness in the integrity and structure of the lumbar spine, the QL and Psoas kick in to add stabilization. If they have to make up for instability in the long run, they will be recruited even harder and eventually shorten and spasm. This will cause other muscle imbalances and can lead to further weakness, injury and pain. A 2025 study in Nature explored the link between chronic low back pain and diaphragm weakness. It noted that patients with lumbar instability may have reduced diaphragm excursion and thickness.

There are two things that can counteract this problem. 1. restore balance and stability to the structure of the lumbar spine through chiropractic care. 2. activate the diaphragm. In research, there's nothing better than chiropractic care to help with lower back pain and injury. In fact, chiropractic care has been found to have better patient satisfaction for lower back pain and injuries than over the counter medications, prescription drugs, and surgery. It has even beat placebo! That's a big deal in the research community. Where the diaphragm comes in is that activating the diaphragm actually will make the QL muscle and Psoas muscles relax. Because of where and how it attaches to those muscles along with the lumbar spine, when the diaphragm contracts and relaxes (as in diaphragmatic breathing) it will also act as a spine stabilizer. This allows for the QL and psoas to take a break from over use which can prevent and reduce their chance of shortening and spasm. Not only that, but the diaphragm is a key component of core activation (I have gone over this in a previous blog in the archives, check it out if interested!) and can help balance core muscles and help with pelvic floor dysfunction and diastasis recti!

Now that we have a solid reason to just breathe better, how do we do it?? If you thought it was through belly breathing, think again! This might be a hot take, and trust me, I was as surprised as anyone because for the longest time belly breathing has been promoted by meditation, yoga, fitness, and health gurus as the way to breathe to promote stress relief by engaging the diaphragm. I can see how it can help because it reduces chest breathing through the shoulders. But what those that are most up to date on latest data in regard to pelvic floor dysfunction and deep core strengthening/stability will tell you is that belly breathing is not the way. This is because the diaphragm needs to have 360 involvement in order to fully engage. Belly breathing only encourages outward breath in the front 1/3, and pushing the belly outward disengages the muscles of the abdominals. When the abdominal muscles are disengaged, we have instability in the core and the back muscles (like the QL and psoas) will kick in to try to stabilize, leading to spasm and shortening cascade that we mentioned above. I know, shocking. But also at this point I hope you are appreciating how amazing our body is and how everything is meant to work together!

Okay now for how to engage and breathe RIGHT. So keeping in mind the schematic of the umbrella that is our diaphragm and where it attaches, we need a 360 expansion of our LOWER RIBS AND BACK. So the sides of your lower ribs should expand as well as a little in your mid-lower back as you take a breath in. One way to tell is by putting your hands at the base of your ribs on the sides and take a breath in. While in front of a mirror, watch what happens when you breathe. You should feel the ribs push your hands out from the sides and you should not see your shoulders rise as this happens. If your hands don't feel much movement and your shoulders go up, guess what. You are chest breathing.

In that same position in front of a mirror, try to focus your breath on expanding the lower ribs from the sides into your hands while relaxing your shoulders. The breath in should have the lower ribs expand and into the midback with little to no shoulder involvement. this 360 expansion with focus on sides and back should have little impact on the belly going in or out while relaxed. When breathing out, think about pushing breath out from the bottom up. I think about pushing my breath out from my lower abdominal muscles, then squeezing my belly button inward, and lastly through pushing my lower ribs together. This helps to engage the deep core muscles with exhale to further encourage core strength and back muscle relaxation.

Not surprisingly, POSTURE MATTERS! Our ribcage needs to be square over our pelvis in order for a diaphragmatic breath to occur. If there is a sway back posture or slouching or even side tilts, the diaphragm will be impaired. Also, if there are subluxations in the midback, lower back, or in the ribs themselves, diaphragm breathing will be limited or disengaged as well. That's also why checking your posture and seeing a chiropractor can really help facilitate your better breathing and therefore, better oxygen uptake, better detoxification abilities, better stress management, better digestion, and better strength, form and function with pain and injury prevention! Let's all breath better!