Chest-Expanding Exercise

Breathing freely and deeply is essential for a healthy quality of life. Illness, stress or simply being sedentary can tighten the chest wall muscles, restricting your breathing and adding to negative health effects. Chest-expanding exercise can release restricted chest wall muscles and improve your respiratory health, leading to greater energy and endurance.

Dynamic Stretching

Dynamic stretching of the chest, shoulders and upper back can expand the chest area, helping to promote better posture and range of motion as well as improved breathing. The dynamic hug-a-tree and chest expansion exercise recommended by the UCLA Recreation Department is a gentle stretch that can be accomplished by anyone standing, or seated on a backless stool. Bend the upper back into a C-shape and swing the arms slowly forward at shoulder height, bending the elbows as if wrapping your arms around a large tree. When your hands meet, clasp them and stretch the shoulders forward slightly. Release your hands and swing arms slowly backward, keeping them parallel to the floor, tilting your head and neck back as your arms pass your sides. Stretch back only as far as comfortable, then repeat.

Breathing Exercises

Deep breathing exercises expand the chest and allow for greater airflow into the lungs. Bedridden patients should take several deep breaths followed by a cough to help loosen secretions in the lungs, recommends the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Lung cancer patients should also engage in deep breathing exercises to expand their air intake, advises the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation. Expand the lower chest by placing your hands on your lower ribs, breathing out through the mouth while focusing on feeling the ribs sink as far as possible, then breathe in through the nose while focusing on pushing the ribs outward against the hands. Expand the diaphragm by repeating the exercise with your hands on your lower chest at the point where the two sides of the rib cage diverge.

Yoga

Yoga is an exercise form that combines poses that stretch and strengthen with mindful breathing. A 2006 study published in the "Thai Journal of Physiological Sciences" found that just 20 minutes of daily hatha yoga practice for 6 weeks measurably improved both chest wall expansion and lung volume. Subjects in this study engaged daily in five well-known yoga positions: the tree pose, the cat position, the twisted trunk position, the Yoga Mudra and the camel position. Be sure to seek training from a skilled yoga instructor before engaging in yoga poses that might potentially strain the spine or muscles.

Swimming

Regular exercise will help maintain chest mobility. Chest mobility is an important component of health for everyone, and especially so for people afflicted with conditions such as ankylosing spondylitis, a chronic form of joint inflammation centered in the spine and neck, according to the University of California at San Diego. Swimming helps to expand the chest without the bone-jarring impact on the spine and joints caused by land-based aerobic exercises such as running. The breast stroke is the best option for maximizing chest-expansion benefits, UCSD recommends.