Injured people often say they can’t breathe, but the act of talking requires a mostly open airway, and air to be pushed over the vocal cords. Is it a mental thing or are they really suffocating?
In: Biology
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.
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