Definition
Every human being has two lungs, which are located on the right and left side of the thorax. As a vital organ, the lung is responsible for gas exchange in the human blood via respiration and enables the organs to be supplied with oxygen. Various diseases can cause pain in the lungs.
These illnesses can be harmless in nature, such as flu-like infections, or they can be more serious clinical pictures that require rapid therapy. There are also some chronic lung diseases that can cause pain, such as asthma or COPD. Persistent complaints should lead to a medical clarification so that the cause of the lung pain can be found and adequately treated.
What actually hurts in the lungs?
The lung tissue itself is not sensitive to pain. Instead, the lung membrane that covers the lungs is equipped with sensitive nerve fibers. If a flu-like infection causes lung pain, this indicates involvement and inflammation of the lung membrane.
Other pain in colds is usually caused by a severe cough. The cough puts a strain on the chest and abdominal muscles and irritates both the muscles and the rest of the chest structures. This can lead to chest pain in case of infections. The pain usually subsides as the cold subsides and the coughing stimulus decreases.
Causes
The possible causes of lung pain are many and varied. Most often, lung pain occurs as a side effect of a cold, especially if the sufferer has a severe cough. The cough puts a strain on the chest muscles, which can then become painful over time.
Therefore, asthmatics can also suffer from lung pain at times when they have to cough heavily for a while. Chest pain is perceived as lung pain, although it does not actually come directly from the lungs themselves, as they are not sensitive to pain. A severe flu-like infection can get deeply embedded in the airways and cause pneumonia.
It can also spread to the pleura – the lung membrane. This in turn is sensitive to pain and is responsible for a large part of the lung pain. An inflammation of the pleura is called pleuritis.
When the symptoms of the cold subside, the pain usually subsides again. Lung pain also occurs in more serious clinical pictures. This is the case with a pneumothorax, for example.
In this case, air enters the gap between the lung and pleura, where there is normally a negative pressure. When this negative pressure is released, the affected lung collapses. The patient suddenly feels severe pain and difficulty breathing.
The air can enter the pleural gap from the outside due to an injury (for example, in accidents or stab wounds) or by bursting small bubbles on the lung surface. A pneumothorax must be treated quickly by relieving it with a drainage. Another cause of lung pain is pulmonary embolism.
Here, the pulmonary arteries are blocked by a blood clot, which is usually flushed from the deep veins of the leg into the lungs. The pain in the lungs is typically felt especially when breathing in. Since numerous other clinical pictures can also cause lung pain, a medical examination is recommended.
Smokers suffer more frequently from pain in the lung area. There are several reasons for this. In the long run, the pollutants contained in cigarettes lead to chronic inflammation in the respiratory tract. In the long term, this leads to chronic bronchitis or COPD (
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