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Why you need Upper Chest Breathing to Fix Forward Head Posture - Breathing Technique & Key Exercises
One of the biggest misconceptions I hear is that upper chest breathing causes forward head posture.
However, upper chest breathing changes the shape of the rib cage so that the neck and head can more easily balance over the rib cage.
The nuance here is around how the upper chest breathing occurs, not if!
Normal breathing mechanics:
1. Inhale - chest expands from bottom to top relative to gravity
2. Exhale - chest returns to resting dimensions or less depending on exhale
Normal breathing starts with a coordinated action of the scalenes and the diaphragm. There is a ratio here, but they are both always acting at the same time. In fact, the scalenes kick off the breathing cycle prior to the upper rib cage actually expanding.
So how does favorable upper chest breathing happen?
For a good upper chest breath, you must have the diaphragm and abdominals working together in coordination to drive airflow into the rib cage.
As you expand, the duration is what allows the upper chest to expand fully.
And in order to achieve this, you need a diaphragm that relaxes on exhalation so that it has room to descend towards inhalation. If already descended, that's no good because there is no gradient!
But if you can coordinate these with a good exhale, followed by an inhale, you're golden.
Want to make it easier?
Reverse the effects of gravity by using inverted breathing exercises.
And to dive deeper, enroll in Total Body Restoration at the link above.
00:00 - Intro
00:39 - Why you need upper chest breathing!
04:55 - Guided Practice
07:36 - Common Mistakes
10:01 - Exercise 1 - Prone Inverted Breathing
11:17 - Exercise 2 - Inverted Breathing
11:59 - Recap