Sternum pain with cough/cold
Breastbone pain that occurs in combination with coughing or a cold is very common and usually harmless. It is important to find out exactly whether the complaints have started at the same time and whether the cough is dry or productive, whether there is shortness of breath and reduced performance. Especially in the case of bronchitis, a very hard cough without much sputum puts a lot of strain on the respiratory muscles that are stretched out between the ribs, resulting in breath-dependent pain in the area of the rib cage and the sternum.It is also important during the examination, which in addition to listening to the lungs and heart also consists of inspection and palpation of the chest, to find out whether the specified sternal pain can be triggered by pressure.
If this is the case, it is more likely to be a harmless cause in the sense of muscular tension. One of the few dangerous processes that could hide between a cold and sternal pain is a so-called pneumothorax. Particularly after long and dry coughing attacks, the lung can become mechanically detached from the inside of the chest, which can lead not only to moderate to emergency breathing difficulties, but also to sternum pain.
This clinical picture is an absolute emergency that requires intensive medical treatment. In all other harmless cases, an attempt can be made to treat it with painkillers (a. e. those which also have an anti-inflammatory effect) and appropriate sparing. Also local application with cold, or like with cough rather warmth, can bring relief.
If the cough is very tight and dry, a mucus solution can loosen the cough and reduce the pain many times over. In this case, inhalation should be used first and foremost. If this does not help, an attempt can also be made to treat the cough with a medicinal expectorant (e.g. ACC or NAC).
