A ) Pushing air out is easier than pulling it back in.
B ) “I can’t breathe” doesn’t always mean a complete inability to breathe, it just means that the person in question is having difficulties breathing, which often is enough to cause the “I can’t breathe” sensation and very well may lead to suffocation: getting *some* air in doesn’t really mean your body is getting enough oxygen to work with.
Breathing out may possible even though breathing in may not be. It is easier to force air out of the lungs than it is to draw air into the lungs.
Inhaling requires creating a negative pressure differential between the inside of your chest cavity and the outside air by flexing your diaphragm muscle.
If there is a weight on your chest, then the pressure differential is positive, not negative. So air can go out, but it can’t come in.
Alternatively, if your windpipe is partially blocked, you might be able to create a higher positive pressure differential by trying to force the air out of your lungs with your abdominal muscles than the negative pressure differential that you could create by trying to breathe in using your diaphragm muscle.
In both cases, you can talk, but you can’t breathe.
A lot of the time, if someone has difficulty breathing, they’ll feel the sensation of not being able to catch their breath or even choking. This makes them panic and say “I can’t breathe, please help.” In first aid courses I’ve taken, the instructors have pointed out that if they can form words, they are not immediately in danger of choking out and you don’t have to panic while assisting them.
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