Breathing Exercises for CRPS

Learn How To Use Deep Breathing Exercises For Your CRPS or Persistent Pain

Understand how breathing exercises can be a helpful self management tool when you live with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) or chronic pain.

There are many alternative therapies, natural remedies and self management techniques that can help with chronic or persistent pain and conditions such as CRPS, CFS/ME, Fibromyalgia and Arthritis. Here we will explore Deep Breathing Exercises as a form of self pain management and how to use them to help cope with CRPS or chronic pain. Although breathing exercises will not cure your chronic pain or CRPS, they could help get you through the day or help you manage a flare up of your pain or symptoms. Breathing exercises are a good self management tool to have and to know.

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Why is Breathing Good To Help You With Your CRPS or Chronic Pain?

Breathing exercises, such as those outlined below, not only relax your mind, lessen stress and tension, but will also make you and your brain focus on something totally separate from your pain or flare up.

When you are in a state of frustration, stress, tension or pain your mind and body are not in a sense of relaxation. When you start to slow right down and begin to draw in some deep breaths, the brain and mind begin to slow down and to relax. This then sends a message from the brain to the rest of your body and soon after both the body and mind will become relaxed, your blood pressure will drop, your heart stops racing, and your heavy fast breathing begins to calm down. 

Breathing & the Nervous System

It has been found that breathing out engages our ventral vagal system, a part of our parasympathetic nervous system which slows our heart rate and relaxes us. Deep breathing stimulates your blood flow and can help bring more oxygen to your joints and muscles, which can help you with your pain.

Breathing is linked to the autonomic nervous system and practicing breathing every day activates the parasympathetic nervous system. Deep breathing techniques, where you are breathing from your diaphragm rather than shallow breathing from your chest, and meditation that focuses on the breath and eases pain are the best to try. Quick, short shallow breaths from the chest will mean your body is receiving less oxygen, whereas breathing from your diaphragm means your body is receiving more oxygen and you will begin to feel more relaxed.

According to the London Pain Clinic they say that diaphragmatic or deep breathing "... also improves circulation and facilitates the most efficient exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide with the minimum amount of effort."

These types of techniques ease tension in the muscles and allow more even blood flow through to the extremities. The soothing power of the breath or heart beat can let you ignore thoughts of pain. (RSD Attorney)

Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Nervous System Breathing - Which one are you?

The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems (SNS and PNS) affect breathing in different ways, and breathing can be used to influence the activity of these systems.

Your body has two key systems that manage how you respond to stress and relaxation. The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is responsible for your stress response, helping you react to challenges. Have a read of our artilce on 6 top tips to manage stress.

On the other hand, the parasympathetic nervous system helps your body rest and relax. When one of these systems is active, the other takes a backseat, allowing your body to focus on either stress or relaxation.

Breathing Techniques & Exercises

In a research article by Busch, V et al (2012), where they studied the Deep and Slow Breathing techniques in relation to chronic pain perception, they found that: "… the way of breathing decisively influences autonomic and pain processing, thereby identifying DSB in concert with relaxation as the essential feature in the modulation of sympathetic arousal and pain perception."

The exercises outlined on this page can be varied at any time to suit you, where you are or what you're doing. If you feel dizzy or light-headed when doing the breathing exercises, return your breathing to it's normal rhythm. You can add some gentle music, light some softly scented candles, or put out some fresh flowers or aromatherapy oils in an oil burner to help you to relax. These sounds and smells can improve your breathing, reduce the stress and tension, and hopefully help your chronic pain or flare up.

Bookspan, J. in her article 'Do breathing exercises work?' says: "Don't "overbreathe" (hyperventilate) by taking huge breaths in and out while at rest. That changes your body chemistry, which can make you dizzy or cause temporary limb tingling."

There are many exercises that can be used, but whichever you decide, remember that learning breathing exercises will take a little practice and getting used to as it may feel unnatural, but stay with it to try and remove your attention away from your pain.

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Benefits to Breathing Exercises

Deep Breathing can be of great benefit for a good many areas of your life, including:

• Helps in relaxation 
• Decrease anxiety and depression
• Good to include as part of your distraction strategy
• Increase happiness and optimism
• Improves sleep
• Strengthens our ability to regulate emotions
• Improves trauma symptoms
• Reduce impulsivity, cravings and addictions
• Can reverse physical signs of anxiety

Exercise 1 – Comfortable Deep Breathing

1. Find a comfortable position preferably with an upright spine (but if lying down works better for you, this is also fine)
2. Rest your hands lightly on your abdomen below the navel. Place your focus there and see if you can relax any tension from the abdominal muscles
3. Breathe in through your nose, taking a comfortable breath. As you breathe in you may like to imagine the breath is flowing in through your nose and down into your lungs and even beyond as far as the abdomen. You might notice that the abdomen rises or swells a little as you breathe in
4. Breathe out through your nose and notice how the abdomen relaxes back
5. Remember, no force or strain is needed. Keep it simple!
6. Enjoy this deeper abdominal breath and notice how after just a few minutes you can feel calmer and more settled.

Exercise 2 – Equal breathing

Equal breathing can have a balancing and calming effect. If practiced using a count, a mantra, or a gentle hand movement it can also distract the mind from other things (perhaps your pain) by creating another point of focus. Follow the intructions above for comfortable deep breathing until you have settled into awareness of your breath.

Using a count

1. Begin to count in your mind. You might begin by counting to 2 as you inhale and 2 as you exhale.
2. This can gradually be increased until you find a ratio that suits you, perhaps 4:4 or 5:5.

Using a mantra

1. Replace your count with a silent mantra which you might repeat in your mind or say out loud if you prefer.
2. As you breathe in – “Breathing in, I calm my body”
3. As you breathe out – “Breathing out, I calm my mind”

Using a hand movement

Instead of, or in addition to using either of the above techniques, you may want to open and close your fingers.

1. Rest your hands comfortably in your lap or beside you.
2. As you breathe in, open your fingers and stretch them gently. Imagine they are the petals of a flower slowly opening.
3. As you breathe out, gently release your fingers and let them curl back towards the palm. Imagine the petals of the flower are closing.

Exercise 3 – Lengthen the exhalation (out breath)

Lengthening the exhalation can be a quick way to help activate the parasympathetic response in the nervous system. This is the part of the nervous system often referred to as ‘rest and digest or tend and befriend’. When the PNS is activated, we are likely to feel calmer and more settled.

1. Follow the guidance above for ‘Deep Breathing’
2. Add a mental count in your head to help you find a longer exhalation.
3. You might start by breathing in for 2 and out for 3. Then over a few minutes gradually increase the ratio to 2 in and 4 out, or 3 in and 5 out.
4. The count you choose doesn’t matter as we all have a different breathing capacity so feel free to explore. Simply work towards the exhalation becoming a little longer than the inhalation.

Exercise 4 – Golden thread breath

This breathing exercise uses a gentle exhale through the mouth, which naturally helps you breathe out for longer and can leave you feeling calmer and more at ease.

Find a comfortable position preferably with an upright spine (but if lying down works better for you, this is also fine).

Breathe in through your nose taking a comfortable breath.

Purse your lips, creating a small circle and breathe out gently through the mouth.

You might imagine that as you are breathing out, a golden thread is slowly releasing and swirling slowly out from your mouth, perhaps taking away with it any discomfort or worry.

Exercise 5 – Coherent breathing

This is a breath practice you may work up to over time as it can feel like a long count at first.

The aim is to breathe as in the equal breath outlined above, but working with a ratio of a count of 6 on the inhalation and 6 on the exhalation.

Breathe in through the nose, counting 1 – 6.

Breathe out through the nose, counting 1 - 6.

There is lots of research supporting the numerous positive benefits of this way of breathing. Just a few examples are improved heart health, increased cognitive flexibility, improved emotional regulation, reduced muscular tension and improved sleep.

Exercise 6 – Breathe, Squeeze and Release

This isn't a breath practice as such, but useful nonetheless for the relief of both mental or physical tension and self regulation, if you are feeling agitated or anxious.

1. Find your way to a comfortable breath if possible.
2. Take a comfortable breath in, hold your breath for a few seconds (2-3) whilst squeezing as many of your muscles as you can, working from the face down through the body, including the arms and legs.
3. Breathe out through your mouth with a sigh, as you consciously let go of all the tension you were holding.
4. Repeat the exercise of breathing, squeezing and releasing a few times, then rest and notice how you feel.

Finally

In this self management article, you will have hopefully learned how to use deep breathing exercises to help you cope with your CRPS or persistent pain.

There are many more exercises and techniques for CRPS and persistent pain available, but always remember to contact your pain management team, GP or other medical professional before trying anything new or different to your current medical regime for your specific condition.

Please do have a read of our other articles, including:

• Quick Guide To Pacing For CRPS and Chronic Pain
• 11 Coping Strategies For Your CRPS
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Burning Nights CRPS Support is a registered charity. We are not doctors or specialists and therefore cannot make any diagnosis, provide treatment, etc. You must speak to your doctor or healthcare professional about starting to do any exercises including breathing techniques. This help is not meant to replace your current treatment regime or medication. If in doubt please contact your doctor or pain specialist first.

Last Updated:17/07/2025