A respiration implant system for an implanted patient with impaired breathing includes laryngeal stimulating electrodes that are configured to interface with left and right posterior cricoarytenoid muscles (PCAM) of a patient larynx to deliver respiration pacing signals to the PCAM to promote patient breathing. And a pacing processor is configured to generate the respiration pacing signals to alternatingly stimulate the left and right PCAM one at a time so as to always have one of the left and right PCAM in an unstimulated resting state.
