Can poor posture restrict your breathing during exercise?

Question

At the gym I notice feelings of a tight chest. This is not a "my heart hurts" issue. My ribcage feels constricted, and it can be difficult to take a full breath. When I take a full breath, it feels like my lungs are pressing against the chest cavity. It's not a sharp pain, more of a dull ache.

And this is not after a grueling workout, either. The situation today happened prior to the workout, while I was doing stretches.

I had thought it might be because I work at a desk, on a computer. You tend to hunch over. So when I'm working out I need to focus on pulling my shoulders back. Could it be that my body is just not used to breathing with good posture?

Answer 1

It may be that your body is not used to having to breathe heavy period!! Have you always been an active person or is the workout all new to you? If so you may just need time to adjust.

Another more remote reason may be due to some form of scoliosis. I personally have a problem taken deep breathes at time due to the structure and curve of my spine and rib cage. Scoliosis is easy to detect and your doctor should tell you.

One more possibility may just be flexibilty. If you picture your body sitting all day hunched forward you can imagine the muscles across your chest are compressed and as you stand they must stretch. After hours of sitting at your desk with those muscles compressed they may just hurt a bit when they are forced to stretch. Standing to stretch at constant and often intervals may be a good solution.

Good luck.

Answer 2

Your poor posture is probably squishing your diaphragm out of place. And if it's a habit your muscles are used to holding your body in that position. You will have to re-train your body to have good posture ALL the time, not just when working out.
Do a lot of exercises where you push your arms backward, and open your chest. You may want to look into yoga or tai chi or qi gung which are all very posture-conscious. Taking a couple of classes a week makes a big difference.