The following excerpt was taken from the International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy October 2017 edition.

Dysfunctional breathing (DB) is a commonly occurring condition in the general population. It is estimated that as high 50-80% of adults have some level of DB. The term DB has been created to identify those individuals who display divergent breathing patterns and have breathing problems that cannot be attributed to a specific medical diagnosis, such as asthma. Normal breathing, considered to be diaphragmatic breathing, includes synchronized motion of the upper rib cage, lower rib cage, and abdomen and requires proper use of the diaphragm.

DB has been linked to a number of common chronic health conditions such as low back pain (LBP), neck pain, anxiety, and depression. 

It has been reported that approximately 50% of individuals with low back pain and 83% of individuals with anxiety demonstrate some form of dysfunctional breathing.

How to find out

Easily obtained clinical measures of breath-hold time and four key questions can be utilized to screen for the presence of dysfunctional breathing. If the screen is passed, there is an 89% chance that dysfunctional breathing is not present. 

Take the Dysfunctional Breathing Quiz in the next section.