Improving shortness of breath by positioning the body

Patients with COPD will require special positioning of the body to breath easily

You may have seen people trying to catch breath after doing some activity or else after an emotional high. While being breathless is a normal occurrence following any rigorous activity, some health conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can severely disrupt a persons’ ability to tolerate stress.

If you or your loved one experience such shortness of breath due to COPD or any other condition, it may be helpful to know that positioning the body in a certain way can ease the workload on the lungs and therefore the easiness to breath. 

One such method is to sit on a chair with the feet flat on the ground and lean slightly forward with the chest while resting the elbows on the knees. In this position, you need to relax your shoulder and neck muscles to allow easy breathing. You can also rest your arms on a table while maintaining the sitting position described earlier, and keep your head on your forearms or else on top of one or two pillows as well. This will have the same effect as that of the earlier method.

You can also improve your breathing while on standing position as well. In order to do this, you need to keep your feet shoulder width apart and rest your hips against the wall. The upper body should bend slightly forward with the shoulders and the neck muscles relaxed. The hands should be resting on the thigh. 

In the sleeping position, you can increase your breathing capacity by lying on your side with one pillow stuck between your knees and another firmly under your head. The pillow under the head should make the head and neck slightly elevated while the back should be kept straight within allowing it to bend. You can also improve your breathing by lying on the back although in this position, you need to keep your knees bent and supported by a pillow or two. A pillow should support the head in order to maintain a slightly elevated position.

While these positions can improve a compromised airway system during shortness of breath, it may not be helpful in all instances where medications and other methods of improving breathing should not be delayed at any cost.