Chest breathing (also thoracic or costal breathing) is a special form of breathing in which the ribs actively raise and lower. The resulting negative pressure causes air to flow into the lungs (inspiration) or be forced out of them (expiration) due to the elasticity of the lungs and chest.
What is thoracic breathing?
Chest breathing is a special form of breathing in which the ribs actively raise and lower. Chest breathing is a type of external breathing. The exchange of breath between an organism and its environment characterizes external respiration, while internal respiration refers to processes of energy conversion within the body or in individual cells. In medical terminology, thoracic breathing is also known as thoracic respiration. The term is etymologically derived from the anatomical term thorax, which means chest. The opposite of thoracic breathing is abdominal or diaphragmatic breathing, which is predominantly controlled by other muscle groups. Diaphragmatic breathing accounts for about two-thirds of human breathing, whereas thoracic breathing accounts for the remaining third of external breathing. Furthermore, compared to diaphragmatic breathing, thoracic breathing requires more energy and is used primarily during periods of greater physical and mental stress. For this reason, thoracic breathing is considered characteristic of stressful conditions.
Function and task
During inhalation in thoracic breathing, the external intercostalis muscle (Musculus intercostalis externus) contracts. It is located above the thorax and runs diagonally across each rib toward the abdomen. The external intercostal muscles originate at one rib and attach to the following rib. Their contraction actively lifts the ribs and rotates them longitudinally outward. As a result, the respiratory muscles expand the chest both laterally and forward and backward: The volume of the lungs increases thanks to the elastic tissue that makes up the lung wall. This process creates a negative pressure inside the chest: the increased volume of the lungs now has a negative pressure in relation to the surrounding area, for the same mass of breathing air it contains. This automatically allows air to flow into both lungs through the opened air seal of the throat and through the airways. Medicine also refers to this process of inhalation as inspiration and accordingly calls the external intercostal muscles the auxiliary inspiratory muscles because of their supporting function. In the reverse process, exhalation or expiration, the air leaves the lungs again. To bring this about, the chest muscles relax. Due to the lack of traction and elasticity of the rib cage and lungs, the ribs then lower and rotate around their long axis back to their original position. Healthy people breathe during chest breathing in the mixed breathing described above. However, during acute respiratory distress, for example as a result of asthmatic disease, so-called auxiliary breathing predominates. The auxiliary respiratory muscles are also known as respiratory accessory muscles and participate in inspiration during thoracic breathing under adverse conditions. This muscle group includes the internal intercostal muscles (Musculus intercostalis internus), which lie beneath the external intercostal muscles, and the subcostal muscles (Musculus subcostalis), which are located on the inside of the ribs. The subcostal muscles originate near the rib angles and stretch across one rib to attach to the rib after next. Other auxiliary respiratory muscles include the straight abdominal muscle (rectus abdominis muscle) and the external and internal oblique abdominal muscles (obliquus externus abdominis and obliquus internus abdominis muscles, respectively).
Diseases and complaints
Because abdominal breathing, unlike chest breathing, promotes physical and mental relaxation, chest breathing is considered a less favorable form of breathing. Incorrect posture, postural deformities, physical deformities, and both acute and chronic lack of exercise may cause the ratio of chest to abdominal breathing to shift in favor of chest breathing. As a result, the risk of stress-associated diseases and respiratory infections may increase: shallower breathing may result in only partial air exchange, which can lead to low oxygen uptake.Symptoms such as fatigue, mild concentration problems, and general malaise may occur as consequences. Repeated complaints occur in chest breathing mainly in the context of asthmatic attacks. Acute dyspnea characterizes the attacks, which occur as a result of various underlying diseases. A common asthmatic disease is bronchial asthma or bronchial asthma. As the name suggests, the cause is a narrowing of the bronchial tubes. Medicine also calls it bronchial obstruction. It can take both completely and partially reversible (reversible) forms. The cause may be allergic reactions, for example, sensitivity to animal hair, pollen or house dust. Other possible triggers include infections, exposure to substances that irritate the respiratory tract, and psychological factors. In these cases, physicians speak of non-allergic asthma. An asthmatic attack causes acute respiratory distress, which induces the auxiliary breathing described above. The purpose of this mechanism is to force more air into the lungs to counteract the threat of oxygen deficiency. This could occur as a result of impaired breathing and, in the worst case, in turn lead to an undersupply of the organs. Over a longer period of time, oxygen deficiency potentially causes the death of cells, including the nerve cells of the brain. Brain damage is therefore a typical consequence of prolonged oxygen deficiency, although fatal consequences may be absent.
