Thediaphragmis a large, dome-shaped muscle located directly below the lungs.
You use it to breathe.
When you take a breath, the diaphragm contracts and flattens, which causes your chest cavity to expand.
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When you exhale, meanwhile, your diaphragm relaxes and returns to its previous shape.
This forces air back out of your lungs.
Healthy adults take between 12 to 28 breaths a minute or as many as 40,000 breaths in a day.
These changes start to occur when you’re first developingCOPD.
However, these muscles don’t compensate fully for your weakened diaphragm, so you have trouble breathing.
Research shows that a very weak diaphragm muscle can worsen your COPD, potentially leading to exacerbations.
People with COPDeven severe COPDwho have weaker diaphragms don’t do as well as people who have stronger diaphragms.
The diaphragmic breathing technique is a bit tricky to learn.
This can cause the diaphragm to flatten and reduce its ability to generate tension.
Respiratory therapy can help to improve diaphragm strength in people with COPD.
The therapist can teach you exercises, such as pursed-lips breathing and diaphragmatic breathing.
Pursed-lips breathing is used to control shortness of breath in people with COPD.
The technique involves inhaling through the nose and exhaling slowly through pursed lips.
This helps slow the pace of breath and get more air into the lungs.
If you see someone with COPD practicing pursed-lips breathing, recognize that they feel short of breath.
Be extra patient and give them time to catch their breath.
If you are walking, slow the pace or suggest having a seat.
If you are talking, pause the conversation.
2014;14(1).
doi:10.1186/1471-2466-14-184
COPD Foundation.Breathing Techniques Fact Sheet.
