The Muscle You Activate 20,000x per day

Breathing requires the coordinated use of several muscles, primarily the large diaphragm muscle. The diaphragm is considered one of the core muscles as it plays important functions in low back stability as well as neck and shoulder mobility. When you breath improperly using your chest, you neglect the diaphragm muscle thousands of times per day. As you can imagine, using any muscle the wrong way will cause a problem, but the wrong way - 20,000 times...that may be a serious issue! 
 
How can someone be breathing improperly? 
People who are not using their diaphragm are often using accessory muscles- pecs and scalene muscles- around the neck to breath. Clinically this can translate into neck and shoulder pain. When breathing, 90% of the movement should come from your abdomen and only 10% from the upper chest.  Watch the video below to see if you are a chest or belly breather. 

Diaphragmatic Breathing