Tag Archives: chiropractic help

Breathe Easier: How Chiropractic Can Help Open the Chest and Lungs

When Breathing Feels Restricted

Years ago, a woman named Carol went into a chiropractic office with persistent shortness of breath. She didn’t have a lung infection or a diagnosis of asthma, but breathing deeply made her chest ache. Her posture was slouched, her shoulders pulled forward, and her upper back was stiff. When she inhaled, it looked like her rib cage barely moved. After a few visits focusing on the upper thoracic spine and rib joints, her breathing began to ease. She noticed that she could take fuller breaths, her neck tension had lessened, and her energy had improved.

The Spine-Rib Connection to Lung Function

Most people think about lungs and airways when they hear “breathing trouble.” However, the ability to breathe deeply also depends significantly on posture and the flexibility of the spine and rib cage. The lungs can only expand as far as the rib cage allows. When the mid and upper back get locked up-often from too much sitting, stress, or injury-the rib cage stiffens, making each breath shallow.

Nervous System Involvement

The diaphragm, your primary breathing muscle, also relies on the spine to function properly. The nerve that powers the diaphragm (the phrenic nerve) travels from the neck to the chest. Tension and restrictions in the neck and upper back can impede this pathway, resulting in inefficient breathing patterns.

Releasing Tension and Improving Posture

Asthma, anxiety, and chronic stress often show up as tight chests, elevated shoulders, and shallow, rapid breathing. People don’t always realize how much tension they’re holding in their ribs and back until it’s released. Chiropractic adjustments aim to restore normal motion in the spine and ribs that have become restricted. Once the joints start moving again, posture improves naturally, the chest opens up, and breathing often feels easier and more relaxed.

Better Breathing, Better Living

Improved breathing isn’t just about comfort. Better airflow means more oxygen to the brain and body, supporting mental clarity, digestion, sleep, and even mood. People often report feeling lighter, calmer, and more alert after having their upper spine and rib cage adjusted.

One study found that spinal adjustments in the thoracic region improved lung function in healthy young adults, suggesting that mechanical changes in the spine and the removal of interferences can have a measurable impact on respiratory performance (1).

Not every breathing issue is caused by spinal tension, but for many, unlocking the thoracic spine and improving posture helps restore natural, deep breathing. People are often surprised by how much better they feel when they can finally take a full breath again.

Call us today to make an appointment and breathe easier! 

(517) 627-4547

  1. Kong, Y.S., Song, Y.K., & Shin, W.S. (2013). Changes in pulmonary function after thoracic spine mobilization and manipulation in healthy young adults. Journal of Physical Therapy Science, 25(4), 425-427.

Colds, Flu and Chiropractic

Chiropractic for the flu and common cold? Absolutely!colds

“But isn’t chiropractic just for backs?” we hear you ask.

Chiropractic is for the entire body. Many people seeing chiropractors for pain find a general improvement in their health that includes fewer and less severe colds, flu and other respiratory problems.

What Causes the Common Cold?

It’s not just germs. For germs to grow in you, you must first be fertile soil. For example, cold viruses were placed on the mucous lining of the nose in test subjects, yet only 12% got a cold. (1)

Obviously, there is more to the cold than germs. For that reason, chiropractic doesn’t “treat” the common cold. It does, however, help awaken your inner healer, your natural resistance – the only “cure.” Natural resistance is the only reason why your cold goes away rather than lasts for weeks, months, years or your entire lifetime!

Chiropractic helps raise your natural resistance to disease by removing a serious interference to your proper body function: subluxations, permitting your body’s natural resistance to disease (immunity) to function at greater efficiency.

There are numerous case histories of chronic cold and flu sufferers having less or no colds after chiropractic care. (2-4) If you want protection from colds and flu, see your chiropractor for natural healing and prevention!

here Are Benefits to Getting Colds and Flu

It’s been said that there can be no cure for the common cold because the common cold is the cure. This is nothing new or really unusual. This approach has been known for thousands of years. Hippocrates, the “father” of medicine wrote: “Diseases are crises of purification, of toxic elimination. Symptoms are the natural defenses of the body. We call them diseases, but in fact they are the cure of diseases.” 

Symptoms are defense mechanisms, helping us detoxify and destroy infection. An infectious disease leaves a healthier person in its wake. In one study, a history of common colds or influenza was associated with less stomach, colon, rectum, breast and ovarian cancer. (5)

Other researchers found that having two childhood viral infections reduces the coronary risk by 40%, four infections reduced it by 60% and six viral infections lowered the risk by 90%. (6)

If you have a cold come in for chiropractic care. A chiropractic adjustment could make the difference between a quick recovery and a lingering illness. Especially do not interfere with your body’s natural healing ability with drugs; permit the symptoms of colds and flu to take their natural course. Do everything to give comfort and build up your natural immunity (chiropractic, hydration, essential oils, homeopathy, rest). The result will be a healthier and stronger body.

  1. Chopra D. Quantum Healing. New York: Bantam Books. 1989:142. 
  2. Absence of T-cells, immune dysfunction, has colds all the time. International Chiropractic Pediatric Association newsletter. November 1996. 
  3. Aguilar AL, Grostic JD, Pfleger B. Chiropractic care and behavior in autistic children. Journal of Clinical Chiropractic Pediatrics. 2000;5(1):293-304. 
  4. Bofshever, H. Case history. International Chiropractic Pediatric Association newsletter. Nov/Dec 1999. 
  5. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/9454821/ns/health-heart_health/t/childhood-infections-may-prevent-heart-disease/#.W-mP0hNKgcU
  6. Abel U, Becker N, Angerer R et al. Common infections in the history of cancer patients and controls. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 1991;117(4):339-344.  Erkki Pesonen, MD, University Hospital in Lund, Sweden. Presented at IV World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery in Buenos Aires, Argentina, September 23, 2005.