posture and asthma

[ash160808]

Hi all

My gp said poor posture can effect asthma and breathing, has anyone else experienced this??

thanks

[Hidden]

I’ve not experienced that, however, I think it’s true that good posture can help with general breath control. Anyone on here who has done vocal training, either for singing or acting, should have been taught it - I know I was.

[EmmaF91 Community Ambassador]

Hi

Poor posture can make breathing more difficult and this may make you feel like you’re asthma is flaring (SOB/tightness) when it’s not. It can’t actually cause ‘true’ asthma attacks (night issues/cough/wheeze etc), and won’t respond that much to asthma medications, however it can make an asthma attack feel worse than it might do otherwise.

If you take posture to the extreme you’ll be able to feel the difference it can make. For example if you stand, and raise and round your shoulders (as if you want them to touch you chin) and breathe for a minute, then stand with ‘proper’ posture (shoulders down and back) you’ll feel the difference in your ability to breathe, your breathing pattern and any symptoms. In this way posture affects breathing.

In prolonged asthma excerbations, asthmatics tend to start to rely on accessory muscles in the neck and shoulders to assist in breathing (we start to breathe with our chest not our stomachs). These muscles then tighten and bring about poor posture and then breathing dysfunctions. Poor posture and a breathing dysfunction combined can be a contributing factor to making asthma attacks feel worse than what docs would expect. The SoB and tightness can mimic asthma without you actually being asthmatic. This is why there is currently a big push to get asthma officially diagnosed my lung function tests etc.

My advice if you want to be ‘checked out’ is to go see an osteopath (my profession 😉) or a physio/chiropractor and ask them to check your posture and breathing patterns, as they’ll be able to say if there is anything you can do to help yourself feel better ☺️ (treatment/rehab/exercises etc)

Hope that helps explain things a bit.