08/07/2025
How Chest Breathing Leads to Neck Pain
Chest breathing, or shallow breathing into the upper ribs and collarbones, often develops in response to stress, poor posture, or chronic tension. While this type of breathing can serve a temporary purpose during exertion or anxiety, relying on it as a habitual pattern places an abnormal workload on the neck and shoulder muscles eventually leading to pain and dysfunction.
Instead of using the diaphragm, the body begins to depend on accessory muscles to draw in breath. These include the sternocleidomastoid, scalenes, levator scapulae, upper trapezius, subclavius, pectoralis minor, and serratus anterior. These muscles assist in elevating the rib cage but are not meant to be used with every breath. When overused, they develop tightness, trigger points, and myofascial restrictions, contributing to pain in the neck, shoulders, jaw, and upper back.
This altered breathing pattern is often accompanied by forward head posture, rounded shoulders, and reduced thoracic mobility, all of which further stress the cervical spine. Shallow breathers typically exhibit restricted movement in the upper ribs and spine, loss of postural support from the diaphragm and deep core, and hyperactivity in the neck muscles.
Manual palpation often reveals congestion and tension around the thoracic inlet, with reduced fascial glide and tenderness along the scalenes and SCM. Over time, this can interfere with normal lymphatic flow, neural mobility, and even balance and proprioception.
Improving this condition requires more than releasing tight tissue. Long-term correction depends on restoring diaphragmatic function, retraining postural alignment, and releasing compensatory tension. Breath retraining, rib and spine mobilization, and manual therapy aimed at decompressing the anterior neck and chest are all essential parts of recovery.
Correcting chest breathing not only reduces pain, it improves oxygen efficiency, calms the nervous system, and restores balance to the musculoskeletal chain from the head to the pelvis.
