What spinal injury location would most likely cause shallow respirations after a head impact during diving, due to diaphragm weakness?

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The diaphragm is the primary muscle of respiration and is controlled by the phrenic nerve, which arises mainly from spinal cord levels C3 to C5. An injury to the spinal cord at or above C5 disrupts signals to the diaphragm, causing diaphragmatic weakness or paralysis. When the diaphragm can’t contract effectively, the depth of breathing decreases, producing shallow respirations. In this scenario, a head injury with a high cervical spinal injury would lead to reduced inspiratory effort due to diaphragm weakness. Other options don’t fit because brainstem injury would affect the brain’s respiratory drive rather than cause isolated diaphragmatic weakness; a chest wall contusion limits chest expansion and causes pain-driven shallow breaths rather than true diaphragmatic failure; and anxiety-induced hyperventilation produces rapid, not shallow, breathing.