What Causes Back Pain While Coughing or Sneezing?

If you regularly struggle with back or neck pain, you’ll know that certain actions can cause a flare up, or make the pain more intense afterwards. With lower back pain, coughing and sneezing are certainly actions that we hear cause people to experience a temporary flare up of symptoms, or even to trigger a long-term flare. Today we’ll be going through why exactly this kind of action causes a flare up of symptoms, and some things you can do to help make it a bit more bearable. We’re in September now, the weather is starting to cool down and with it comes bouts of cold and flu. If you’ve got any injuries, big or small, in your spine, coughing and sneezing can further irritate the injured structures.

Whether you’re coughing or sneezing, they’re both quite violent motions – and if you’ve come down with the cold or flu virus, you’re likely to be repeating these motions quite frequently. If you happen to cough or sneeze quite violently on a one-off occasion, it may still be quite likely that you experience a flare up of symptoms.

Why Does Sneezing Cause Back Pain?

We often use the analogy of a cut on an elbow. If you’ve ever had a scab on a main joint, if you happen to quickly bend that joint then you’re going to rip the scab and it’ll probably start bleeding again. The same thing happens when you cough or sneeze, an increase in pressure rushes to the abdomen and places further pressure on the injured disc that causes you pain. Increasing pressure to the abdomen causes the disc to drive back towards the spinal canal further, to bulge further, which is commonly why when people sneeze when they have a disc issue it can cause a shooting pain to occur down the legs or in the lower back.

In order to best support yourself if feel like you need to cough or sneeze, try to be mindful about your positioning. Throwing yourself forward to cough or sneeze is a very bag idea, so try to remain in control of your motion. You’ll want to try to keep yourself upright and in a position of good posture – shoulders back and down and a natural arch in your lower back. If you are getting this kind of issue regularly, it’s likely going to be beneficial for you to seek treatment to get on top of the problem, so it starts to heal effectively. Getting expert advice on the problem rather than trying to manage it on your own, will help you see long-term results with your back or neck pain.

Treatment For Back Pain

If you’re based in the London area, we are specialists in treating back and neck pain. We have a range of technology based treatments to help reduce inflammation and heal the problem from the source of the problem. Many ‘solutions’ given for back pain don’t take into account the underlying cause of the problem – often poor posture – and seek to mask the symptoms. Painkillers and injections are both examples of masking the true underlying problem, and don’t take into consideration the patients spinal alignment, which may continue to cause an issue that gets progressively worse over time. At The Mayfair Clinic, our process begins at the initial consultation. A thorough examination, followed by X-rays if required allow us to create a full picture and analytical view of your spine. We look at the angles of your spine, as even a small deviation from normal for a spine angle can cause the spine to degenerate faster and cause problems later in life. You can learn more about how the angles in your spine can be changed on our YouTube video here.

So if you’re suffering with back pain that is exacerbated by coughing or sneezing, and it’s pain that has been bothering you for more than just a few days – it’s worthwhile seeing a professional who can assess your back. We’re based just a couple of minutes walk from Oxford Circus Station in Central London, and offer an examination complete with X-ray imaging if necessary and treatment on the first visit. Call us today to arrange your first visit on 0203 947 3222 or email us at info@themayfairclinic.com to discuss your case.