Lung pain when coughing

Introduction

Coughing can cause pain for various reasons. However, the symptoms typically referred to as lung pain are not pain of the organ itself. Rather, the sheaths surrounding the lungs are the organs that trigger the pain stimulus.

To feel pain, impulses must be sent from the affected organ to the brain via pain-conducting nerve fibers. The lung itself does not have any such conduction pathways, which is why we cannot perceive pain in the lung. Instead, pain stimuli are received from areas such as the airways, the pleura, the pleura and the chest.

Causes of lung pain when coughing

The most common cause of pain when coughing are diseases of the chest and its muscles. For example, tension in the intercostal muscles or aching muscles can become noticeable when the ribcage expands, as is the case with coughing. Furthermore, irritation of the nerves running through the ribcage, the so-called intercostal nerves, can cause pain when coughing.

This can in turn be caused by diseases of the nerves themselves or complaints of the ribs. The former include intercostal neuralgia or shingles, which is caused by a virus and is accompanied by the formation of blisters in the affected skin area. Diseases of the ribs that cause pain when coughing include rib blocks, bruises or even fractures.

Inflammation of the surrounding tissue of the lung is another cause. These are projected by the body directly onto the lungs and are therefore perceived as lung pain. Inflammation of the pleura or lung fur is manifested by pain when coughing, and pneumonia can also cause this.

Far more common, however, is pain in the context of a cold or bronchitis, i.e. infections of the upper respiratory tract. In contrast to coughing with sputum, dry irritable cough is usually not associated with an infection. Rather, chronic respiratory tract irritation is often the reason for dry cough.

Allergy sufferers in particular suffer from dry irritable cough, as their respiratory tract reacts very sensitively to external stimuli. However, people who inhale harmful substances permanently or at least over a longer period of time can also be affected by dry dry dry cough. Therefore, smokers often suffer from dry cough, but even those who are professionally exposed to toxins may have a hyperreactive (overreacting) respiratory system.

The reaction of the mucous membrane in the airways consists of a chronic inflammatory reaction, which can be accompanied by pain when coughing.

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A phenomenon known as exercise-induced asthma can occur during sports. If, for example, the air is also particularly cold when exercising, this can lead to an overreaction of the respiratory tract, so that affected athletes have to cough a lot during exercise.

If one has already caught an infection of the respiratory tract, for example a simple cold, sport can also increase the symptoms. Those affected have to cough more often due to the additional strain on the lungs. Coughing can be painful due to the inflammation of the airways. Breath-related pain due to side stings can also occur during sport. The pain of the side sting is particularly strong when coughing.