What Does Breathing Have to Do with Shoulder Mobility? Lots!

The shoulder bone connects to the rib bones, which means the way that you breathe affects shoulder movement.

Author

Kristina Canizares
October 23, 2024

Of the 20+ muscles that control the shoulder joint, only two connect to your torso. The pectoralis major connects the humerus to the ribs, and the latissimus dorsi connects to the spine and pelvis. All of the other muscles attach to the shoulder blade complex. So the way the shoulder blade sits and moves has a massive affect on your shoulder health.

But what about breathing?

How Breathing Affects Shoulder Mobility

Breathing is so much more than just the way that we get oxygen in and carbon dioxide out. It is also a mechanical process that affects our nervous system, our heart rate, and our posture. The diaphragm muscle that bisects our torso at the base of the rib cage affects the shape and position of our ribs and spine as it works to help you breathe in and out.

Diagram showing the movement of the diaphragm and intercostal muscles during inahaltion and exhalation

When we inhale (inspiration) the diaphragm muscle shown at the bottom of the lungs drops down as the intercostal muscles work to lift the rib cage up. When we exhale (expiration) the diaphragm domes up and the intercostal muscles relax so that the rib cage drops back down.

All of the muscles that control shoulder blade movement and stability attach to the rib cage and spine.

Therefore the way that you breathe has a direct effect on your shoulder mobility.

One of the ways this can manifest is when we have difficulty fully exhaling and relaxing the diaphragm muscle. When we really let all the air out of our lungs our tranverse abdominus and oblique muscles contract to hold us up and the diaphragm returns to its resting shape: a raised dome that arches up into our chest cavity. This allows the rib cage to relax down too.

Illustration showing how rib cage movement changes with breathing expanding on the inhale and dropping on the exhale

When we can’t full exhale due to stress or too much sitting, our diaphragm and rib cage get stuck in the Inspiration position. This puts extra strain on our spinal and neck muscles and inhibits shoulder blade movement.

A common effect of stress and sitting to much is that we never fully exhale, and the diaphragm gets stuck in the on position with the ribs permanently lifted. This puts strain on the neck muscles and it changes the way our shoulder blades relate to their anchor points on the upper back.

When the lungs are over-inflated the rib cage and upper spine pull away from the shoulder blades. Then the shoulder blades then tend to ride higher on the back than is optimal, contributing to a hunched or rounded shoulder position. It also inhibits the action of important muscles like the serratus anterior that contribute to upwards rotation of the shoulder blade.

Illustration of the serratus anterior muscle that attaches the shoulder blade to the rib cage

When the rib cage is over-inflated and permanently lifting up and forward it makes it difficult to utilize the serratus anterior muscle, an essential part of shoulder stabilization and upward movement.

Another common way that breathing can affect shoulder mobility is when one side of the rib cage inflates more than the other, contributing to imbalance between the right and left side of the torso. If one side of the rib cage is rotating up much more than the other the shoulders will respond very differently to the same type of exercise.

The full impact of breathing on movement mechanics is an area of intense study. The complexities are far beyond the scope of my humble blog, but I hope that this article gives you some appreciation of how the root cause of an issue—something like tight shoulders—may not be in the joint where you experience the symptom.

Happy Bendings!

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