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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Physiol.
Sec. Respiratory Physiology and Pathophysiology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphys.2024.1394109
This article is part of the Research Topic Interoception and Mind-Body Interventions: Learning from Embodied, Respiratory, and Contemplative Practices View all 6 articles

The Breathing IQ: An Anthropometric Index Of Diaphragmatic Breathing Efficiency

Provisionally accepted
Belisa Vranich Belisa Vranich *
  • The Breathing Class, San Diego, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Breathing pattern disorders (BPD) are increasingly relevant due to the rise of respiratory illnesses, but are often limited to diagnoses of hyperventilation syndrome and do not consider breathing dysfunction that is mechanical in origin. Impaired diaphragmatic and inefficient breathing patterns often evolve into downstream musculoskeletal and psychological consequences. Respiratory research has consistently called for standardization of methods that can consider breathing as multifactorial and consider breathing mechanics. Aim: This paper aims to introduce the Breathing IQ (BIQ) as a novel anthropometric index of abdominothoracic flexibility for identifying biomechanical breathing patterns and assessing diaphragmatic breathing efficiency. Method: A sample of N=384 individuals was assessed with the BIQ pre- and post- intervention of five corrective exercises in a single 90-minute session to identify changes in BIQ grade from A-F as determined by measuring breathing range of motion (ROM) and location of movement (LOM). Results: Binary grade improvement (yes/no) occurred in 331 of the 370 without A grades at baseline (89.5%), p<0.001. Before the intervention, 249 (64.8%) were graded an F, and only 14 (3.7%) were graded an A. After the intervention, only 20 (5.2%) were graded an F, and 102 (26.6%) were graded an A. BH improved pre- to post-intervention, from 37.2 (18.7) to 66.0 (26.9), mean change 24.3 (15.3), which was highly significant (p<0.001). Conclusion: The BIQ shows preliminary potential of being an effective screening of mechanical breathing dysfunction.

    Keywords: Breathing Pattern Dysfunction, Diaphragmatic breathing, Breathing Exercises, Biomechanics, respiratory health

    Received: 13 Mar 2024; Accepted: 12 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Vranich. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Belisa Vranich, The Breathing Class, San Diego, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.