Stress and anxiety can result in shallow breathing, which in turn leads to back pain. Here’s why: When you’re anxious, you tend to take short breaths or hold your breath, so the nerves passing through your spine’s 26 joints “freeze up” and cause pain. Taking deep, full breaths opens the lungs, bringing in oxygen and allowing the joints and nerves to move more freely, explains Kenneth Hansraj, MD, author of Key to an Amazing Life: Secrets of the Cervical Spine (Amazon Digital Services, 2012).
OUTSMART PAIN
Make sure you are breathing fully and deeply, and practice alternate nasal breathing daily. Sit tall in a comfortable position and breathe in fully (your torso should expand on the inhale), then pinch your nostrils together, holding in the breath. Release your right nostril and exhale. Then inhale deeply through your right nostril; pinch it closed. Hold, then release your left nostril and exhale. Repeat, working up to at least 5 minutes a day.
