Lower Back Pain Solutions: How To Improve Your Breathing For Less Back Pain

One of the things we must address to find lower back pain solutions is our breath. It's a movement we perform over 22,000 times a day and has a direct influence on the amount of force that goes through our lower back on a day to day basis. Which is why improving our breath is critical to getting you out of pain and back to enjoying life.

Learning to limit the impact that goes through our spine is the best way to solve lower back pain. In this article we'll provide a better understanding of how our breath impacts lower back pain and what you can do to improve your breathing for less lower back pain.

1. Relation to Diaphragm

The diaphragm muscle is the primary muscle responsible for controlling our breath. Many important structures pass through our diaphragm including the the psoas and quadratus lumborum (both important lower back stabilizer muscles). Any issues with our breath, can impact our psoas and QL, which can put more load on our spine and cause lower back pain.

2. Relation to Lower Back Stability

We can also use our breath to build stability in our lower back to take pressure off our spine. Filling our abdominal cavity with air creates what low back specialist Dr. Stuart McGill calls ‘360 degree low back stiffness.’ This stiffness takes the compressive loads off of our spine and intervertebral discs and onto the surrounding musculature.

3. Effect on Nervous System

Another contributor to lower back pain that often doesn't get enough attention is stress. You have probably noticed that when times are stressful your pain is often more intense. Breathing is also the only way we can to affect the involuntary (autonomic) nervous system to lower stress. By simply slowing our breath down we have the ability to shift us more towards parasympathetic (relaxed) state or a more heightened (sympathetic) state which helps to ease lower back pain. 

How to Improve Breathing For Less Back Pain

Now that we know how our breath contributes to lower back pain. It's time to focus on what we can actually do to improve our breath and find lower back pain solutions. Luckily for us, improving our breath is easy if we take the time to practice. Belly Breathing and Abdominal Bracing are the two best exercises to improve our breath and improve lower back stability. Learn more in the videos below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyphdLBU_HUhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B0E3P5HPwQ&t=18s

Lower back pain solutions are only found by learning how to limit the impact that goes through our spine. Our breathing movement pattern is a good place to start. If you are suffering from lower back pain and are looking for more ways to protect your lower back for less pain, be sure to download our beginners strength program. Inside you'll find the EXACT program we've used to solve years of back pain.

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Don’t let back pain keep you from enjoying life. Be sure to check out other some of our other back pain articles for even more help:

• What Causes Lower Back Pain? Treating The Root Cause
• Ten Glute Bridge Progressions To Treat Low Back Pain
• Reasons To STOP Stretching For Lower Back Pain
• What Causes Lower Back Pain? Three Movements To Master
• Causes of Low Back Pain: Three Areas To Strengthen
• Lower Back Pain Causes: How Mobility Issues Can Lead To Back Pain
• Best Exercises To Get  Rid Of Lower Back Pain
• How To Fix Lower Back Pain: Three Places To Start
• Ten Step Guide To Treating Chronic Lower Back Pain
• Lower Back Pain Solutions: How To Improve Breathing For Less Back Pain
• The Best Low Impact Strength Exercises For Low Back Pain
• The Best Exercise For Low Back Pain You’re Probably Not Doing
• How To Fix Lower Back Pain With The Hinge
• Five Reasons For Lower Back Pain With Your Squat
• How To Solve Lower Back Pain That Comes And Goes
• How Stiff Ankles Can Cause Lower Back Pain
• What Is The Neutral Spine Position
• How To Find And Keep A Neutral Spine Position