Do you have a chest ache or cough? Why does my chest hurt when I cough?

A coughing attack is often accompanied by pain in the chest. There are many reasons for this condition. Chest pain when coughing may be a sign of a severe inflammatory process occurring in the lungs or in the pleural area. But diseases of the respiratory system are not the only cause of possible pain in this area. Also, such a symptom may indicate problems in the cardiovascular system, etc.

Causes

Let's look at the most common reasons for chest pain when coughing:

ARVI, seasonal flu, etc.
Bronchitis, tracheitis, pneumonia.
Pleurisy.
Diphtheria.
Epiglottitis.
Bronchial asthma.
Allergic reactions.
Foreign body.
Pulmonary embolism.
Rib fractures.
Intercostal neuralgia.
Tumors of various origins (benign and malignant).
Tuberculosis.
Cardiovascular diseases.

Let's look at some diseases in which a similar symptom occurs in more detail.

Pleurisy

The pleura is a serous membrane that covers the surface of the lungs and the inner wall of the chest. Thus, there is a pleural cavity between them. When the pleura becomes inflamed, the disease pleurisy occurs. It can be exudative, with accumulation of fluid in the pleural space, and dry.

The following symptoms are characteristic of pleurisy:

Dry cough, chest pain, shortness of breath.
Weakness and excessive sweating, usually at night.
The temperature is low-grade and rarely rises to high levels.
If the patient lies down on the affected side, the pain decreases slightly, as breathing movements are limited.

With exudative pleurisy (in case of fluid accumulation), shortness of breath increases. And if pleurisy becomes purulent, the temperature rises sharply.

To treat this disease, antibacterial therapy is used, and in the case of purulent contents, it is recommended to remove the fluid by pleural puncture.

Pneumonia

With this disease, chest pain when coughing is also typical. Especially if lobar pneumonia develops affecting a lobe or the disease usually begins with a sharp rise in temperature. It can reach up to 40 degrees. Pain in the chest also appears when taking a deep breath. The patient experiences shortness of breath from the first days.

The patient's condition worsens. In addition to the described symptoms - chest pain, cough, fever - red spots may appear, which are noticeable on the face from the side of the lesion, as well as cyanosis (blueness) of the lips, if the cardiovascular system is involved in the pathological process. Palpitations and heart rhythm disturbances may occur.

After a few days, sputum begins to cough up, at first transparent, then it becomes the color of rust.

Symptoms may worsen over two weeks. Then, with proper treatment, the crisis passes, and gradually the patient becomes better. - this is a very serious disease. It is treated only with antibiotics. Sometimes several antibacterial drugs are used at once. Before the advent of antibiotics, this disease was very often fatal.

Colds

Chest pain when coughing can be caused by colds caused by viruses or bacteria. Such diseases include:

ARVI.
Flu.
Whooping cough.
Tracheitis.
Bronchitis, etc.

These diseases are characterized by the following symptoms: cough, chest pain, runny nose (this may not be present with bronchitis and tracheitis). In addition, the patient is worried about weakness, chills, and an increase in temperature, sometimes up to 38-39 degrees and above. Patients often say that they feel as if someone is scratching their chest from the inside. With the start of treatment, these sensations gradually disappear. With bronchitis, the patient often suffers from chest pain, which intensifies.

Antiviral therapy is used for influenza and ARVI. If you have a runny nose, vasoconstrictor medications (drops, sprays) are used. Antibiotics can be used to treat bronchitis and tracheitis.

Intercostal neuralgia

This disease is characterized by pain in the chest, which can occur as sharp exacerbations in the form of shots. They intensify with deep inspiration and can be unbearable, according to patients.

With intercostal neuralgia, it is important not to confuse this disease with angina attacks or other heart diseases.

Chest injuries

These include bruises and painful sensations are pronounced and intensify with any movement. It is important not to confuse them with pain due to osteochondrosis. For this purpose, a chest x-ray is taken. Injuries to the shoulder joint (subluxations, dislocations, fractures) sometimes give similar symptoms.

With fractures of the lungs or other injuries (knife or gunshot wound, etc.) of the chest, pneumothorax can sometimes occur - this is the penetration of air into the pleural space around the lungs, which compresses the lung and prevents it from expanding when inhaling. This condition usually requires surgery.

Sometimes a small spontaneous pneumothorax may occur; it resolves on its own and does not require treatment.

Lungs' cancer

With this tumor process, uncontrolled growth of pathological cells occurs in the lung tissues. The process can also affect nearby organs. It is important to identify the pathology as quickly as possible and take immediate action. Therefore, all citizens are recommended to undergo fluorography or x-ray examination of the lungs at least once a year.

Statistics show that of all cases of lung cancer, 85% of patients are smokers. The remaining 15% are patients with a family history, living in environmentally unfavorable areas, working in hazardous industries, etc.

Pain in the chest due to lung cancer is tingling and sharp. They can encircle the entire chest or be located only on one side, extending to the neck, arm, or shoulder blade. If the process has gone far, and metastases penetrate into the spine or ribs, then the patient suffers from very strong, literally unbearable pain in the chest area, which intensifies with any movement.

If such symptoms occur, you need to identify the cause of discomfort and pain. To do this, you need to seek medical help. Only a specialist will determine their true cause and prescribe the correct treatment.

If you or your child have pain in the sternum during a cough or cold, special care is required to relieve pain attacks and completely cure the inflammatory process. Pain in the sternum can be neuralgic in nature. In this case, they often worsen in the autumn-spring season. Such symptoms can cause inflammatory diseases or the influence of osteochondrosis. Treatment for such underlying causes varies, so a thoughtful approach is required in identifying and addressing all risk factors.

Sensations and symptoms: scratching in the chest, sore throat, temperature, pain go away along with a cold.

The most common form is chest pain, which occurs as a result of a prolonged dry cough and natural tearing of organs. This can occur as a result of ARVI, influenza, whooping cough, tracheitis, pleurisy and other infectious diseases in the bronchopulmonary region. Please note that coughing attacks are caused by whooping cough; in adults it occurs in a mild form, but is also characterized by a protracted course and coughing attacks.

In case of prolonged colds, in 26% of cases, serological examination reveals the bacteria whooping cough, so the treatment of this type of infectious disease must be treated with special care, achieving complete recovery and the absence of complications.

cough symptoms associated with whooping cough are relieved by walking in the fresh air;
Tea with linden and raspberries helps a lot;
for colds and respiratory diseases, the immunomodulator Likopid is often used, which can be taken by infants and during pregnancy;
To relieve neurological cough attacks during whooping cough, brain peptides, for example, Cortexin, are used;
to eliminate tonsillitis as a constant source of infection in the respiratory tract, immunoglobulin in the form of the drug Octagam is used;
To relieve inflammation and swelling as a result of an infectious lesion, the homeopathic drug Lymphomyosot can be used.

Persistent chest pain after a cold

In case of persistent or prolonged pain symptoms in the sternum after infectious diseases, a number of examinations will be required:

If it is not possible to reliably establish at this stage what this may be, we recommend doing a CT scan with contrast and, if possible, a PET-CT scan of the chest. The second examination is specifically designed for early diagnosis of cancer. In some cases, it is time to start the examination with a less accurate chest x-ray. Also an important examination is an ultrasound of the heart and a cardiogram, which allows one to identify disorders of the cardiovascular system, which can also be infectious in nature.

Physiotherapy and traditional methods for the treatment of chest pain as a consequence of a cold

If, with a prolonged and protracted cough, neoplasms of unknown etiology and heart disease, which require caution, as well as tuberculosis, are not detected, you can begin to treat the inflammatory process with the help of physiotherapy and folk remedies. Cough sometimes occurs periodically as a result of pulmonary fibrosis; this disease requires condition support and prevention.

The following physical procedures can relieve the cough reflex, which causes pain and coughing:

inhalation with hydrocortisone;
electrophoresis with novocaine and aloe.

At home, a cough can be relieved by irrigating the throat with a mixture of wormwood essential oil (strictly no more than 1-3 drops) with a base oil (for example, burdock - 1 dessert spoon). Wormwood oil contains thujone, which has a nerve-paralytic effect, but when taken in small doses or irrigated in the throat, it relieves coughs and helps relieve swelling.

To relieve pain, proven folk remedies help:

rubbing the chest and back with an extract of Adam's root and red pepper, followed by tight bandaging with an elastic bandage - allows you to achieve fixation and restoration of organs damaged by coughing;
a mixture of red clay with kerosene as a lotion: 1 kg of clay is poured into 1 tbsp. water and warm up, add 1 tbsp to the slightly cooled mass. l. kerosene.

You can also use pharmaceutical products:

mustard plasters;
ointments and gels Finalgon, Naftalgin, Vipratox, Menovazin, Efkamon;
compress of camphor alcohol (1/3 cup alcohol to 2/3 cup water).

Chest pain during pregnancy

During pregnancy, pain in the sternum, in addition to the listed and a number of other reasons, can occur as a result of natural processes of organ displacement, which causes pain, including on the right side. In this case, it is better to consult your doctor, who will prescribe adequate therapy and examinations. Most often, physiological chest pain during pregnancy is relieved by breathing exercises and special physical exercises.

Neuralgia in the chest

Intercostal neuralgic pain, arising as a result of osteochondrosis and other diseases of the spine, is characterized as unbearable and shooting. They can be relieved with the help of Chinese balm Asterisk, back massage, treatment of painful areas with Darsonval, or a home magnetic therapy device. In part, osteochondrosis can only be treated with long-term exercises; special traction exercises help relieve pain within a week.

We usually associate the occurrence of a cough exclusively with colds, and we cannot even imagine that this symptom could mean anything else. It is interesting that for quite a long time a person can attribute the symptoms that appear to a cold, although in fact, already at this time a serious disease will be developing in full swing in his body. If the cough does not go away some time after the start of active treatment prescribed by the doctor, then this fact will already be a cause for concern. In fact, any other disease of the respiratory system can simply masquerade as a cold due to the fairly strong similarity of symptoms. Pain can appear both during coughing and independently of it, so such features should be taken into account, because they will help establish an accurate diagnosis.

A person may feel discomfort not only in the chest, but throughout the entire torso, since pain has the ability to be reflected. Even the temperature may rise, which usually indicates an inflammatory process.

Why is coughing accompanied by pain? You should not be too indifferent to such a symptom, because it can signal the development of a serious disease in the body. Cough can be both wet and dry, each of which is characteristic of a particular disease.

In some cases, such a symptom is also accompanied by pain, the localization of which is usually:

sternum;
left or right side;
back;
head (in the temple area);
under the ribs on all sides.

Chest pain when coughing - causes

Quite often, a painful cough is accompanied by other symptoms that are common to many diseases: increased body temperature, shortness of breath, expectoration, snot and general weakness in the body. It is thanks to these symptoms, as well as the location of the pain, that the cause of the cough can be determined. Several symptoms may appear at once with a certain disease, and the main one will, of course, be painful coughing attacks.

Pneumonia. Typically, pneumonia is accompanied by elevated body temperature, as well as periodic tingling throughout the chest area. It is characterized by a dry cough, which does not involve the discharge of sputum. Their presence in the lungs leads to the development of the disease.
Pleurisy. This disease is one of the possible consequences after pneumonia. The inflammatory process spreads to the thin membrane of the bronchi, which is essentially its cover. For quite a long time, you can observe a strong cough, the consequence of which is a disruption of the usual breathing process. Low-grade fever is also typical, not exceeding 37 degrees. In addition, at night a person may sweat quite a lot, and the pain in the supine position is significantly reduced.
Bronchitis is a complication of simple ARVI. It is characterized by a significant increase in body temperature, weakness and a wet cough. With proper therapy, acute bronchitis can be treated quickly enough, since there are no problems with the removal of sputum. But chronic bronchitis is accompanied by coughing attacks at night, while during the day a person can only cough occasionally.
Tuberculosis. This disease can hardly be confused with any other, because a person experiences excruciating pain in the sternum. Low-grade fever can last more than two weeks. The cough is quite strong, and it manifests itself in the form of severe attacks, while sputum is constantly excreted, but it will definitely contain blood. It is this symptom that can alert a person, because it is what makes him go to the doctor.
Infectious diseases. Typically, pain occurs precisely because of excessive accumulation of lactic acid in the intercostal muscles. This is due to the fact that these are the muscles that tense the most when coughing. The temperature can rise quite strongly, and it is usually accompanied by weakness and chills.
Pneumothorax. The disease occurs due to any mechanical damage to the lungs, for example, a rib fracture. The patient suffers from excruciating pain with every deep breath of air. The fact is that during inhalation, the lungs, due to their openings, release air that enters the abdominal cavity. Thus, it puts pressure on other internal organs.
Pericarditis- inflammation of the lining of the heart. Dry pericarditis is accompanied by increased pain when coughing, taking deep breaths, sneezing, and even light pressure on the chest.
Oncology. The occurrence of a malignant tumor is characterized by quite severe pain, so patients are often saved only by strong painkillers. The tumor can also affect the spine, so when coughing a person also feels pain in this area. As a rule, only in the later stages does the pain intensify significantly.
Disturbances in normal chest mobility, as well as the section of the spine adjacent to it. The disease occurs as a result of a spinal injury or the appearance of pleural tumors.
Chest injuries may also be accompanied by pain not only when moving, but also when coughing. The situation becomes especially complicated if the broken bones heal on their own, without the help of doctors. Thus, a person may experience pain throughout his life.
Musculoskeletal diseases. For example, osteochondrosis of the chest causes slight pain when coughing. Therefore, you should not ignore this disease, because it can lead to some complications.
Neuralgia is characterized by fairly severe chest pain, which can easily be confused with a symptom of any respiratory disease. But it consists in damage to the nerves, but not to the lungs. Pain is constantly present, which makes it psychologically difficult for a person to cope. And it intensifies during movements, deep breaths or coughing.
Shortening of the interpleural ligament. A cough occurs, which usually worsens with deep breathing and exercise, and even when the person begins to speak. Stitching pain can occur with every deep breath, since at this moment the diaphragm is activated, to which the ligament is attached. And it shortens due to the inflammatory process, so it is better to prevent its occurrence.
Diseases of the urinary system. Quite often, pain from renal colic can even be reflected in the chest. Therefore, if you feel severe pain in the lower back, along with pain in the shoulder blades, then you should not consider it as a separate symptom. Most likely, this is simply a reflection of the pain that has arisen in the kidneys.

Pain in the right side and under the ribs

If you feel pain on the right side in the rib area, then you shouldn’t immediately blame it on your lungs. After all, it is usually accompanied by other manifestations in the form of vomiting, which usually indicate a malfunction of the digestive system. So, usually such pain in the ribs indicates the presence of:

stomach ulcers;
pancreatitis;

Sometimes in this area of the body there is quite severe pain that is simply unbearable to endure. It should be understood that sudden severe pain is a cry for help from your body. After all, it can occur with various types of neuralgia and even lung cancer. There is a strong tingling feeling in the chest, which is accompanied by a high temperature, as well as difficulty breathing. Don’t immediately get scared, thinking that it’s probably lung cancer. No, most likely, an inflammatory process is actively developing in your body, which can result in more serious illnesses.

Pain in the chest area on the left

Since everything in our body is interconnected, pain can spread to any part of the body. If you feel a sharp pain under the ribs on the left side, this does not mean that there is something wrong with your respiratory system. Quite often our power of self-hypnosis causes us to experience symptoms that do not exist. So, a person may start coughing at the first pain in the respiratory system, although the cause of the pain is some kind of disease of the digestive system. Therefore, such pain can mean malfunctions of the pancreas, heart, stomach and even intestines. Although lung diseases cannot be ruled out, you should not focus only on them.

But if the pain intensifies every time, then it may even be the development of pneumonia or bronchitis, but a mandatory symptom of the disease is a cough. Also, tingling pain may indicate that a person is in a pre-infarction state. By the way, a cough can also manifest itself in cases of cardiac dysfunction, but it will not be as severe as in the case of pneumonia. Special attention should be paid to intercostal neuralgia, which is characterized by unbearable pain. Such pain is constantly present, thereby preventing a person from living a full life. He simply psychologically cannot stand this pain, so it is important to make a correct diagnosis as early as possible and begin treatment.

Chest pain with cough

There are chest pains that can be symptoms of many diseases, so it is quite difficult to make a diagnosis without additional symptoms. Thus, we will simply lose precious time, on which the success of future treatment depends. Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish between chest pain, along with which a cough occurs, so that most diseases can be immediately discarded. The presence of cough and chest pain may indicate the active development of inflammatory processes and even tumors.

Why does chest pain occur with a dry cough?

In addition to constant pain, there is also a dry cough that does not leave the person day or night. A wet cough at least alleviates a person’s condition by the fact that its result is the discharge of sputum. But a dry cough brings absolutely no results, which is why it only gets worse each time. This cough can occur with pericarditis, intercostal neuralgia and even osteochondrosis. In fact, it has nothing to do with the respiratory system, but there is a feeling that the problem lies there. Although it is not uncommon for the development of cancerous tumors of the respiratory system, accompanied by a severe cough.

Backache

If chest pain can indicate bronchitis, which is not so difficult to cope with (with proper treatment), then back pain most often signals the development of pneumonia. It is also most often accompanied by a fairly high body temperature and a painful cough. But besides this, pain in this area, accompanied by a cough, may indicate the presence of the following diseases:

Renal colic (occurs in the lumbar region).
Intercostal neuralgia.
Osteochondrosis can develop in the thoracic spine.
Pleurisy is characterized by pain between the shoulder blades.
Malignant neoplasms of the respiratory organs and spine.

If the pain is concentrated in the ribs

Most often, the presence of such pain indicates infectious diseases of the lower respiratory organs (pleurisy, pneumonia, influenza). But if you feel pain for obvious reasons, for example, it could be a severe bruise or broken ribs, then you should immediately contact a traumatologist. Sprains of the intercostal muscles are characterized by milder pain, which, by the way, is the easiest to recognize. It can intensify not only with movements, but even with a deep breath.

Changes in the location of pain when coughing

If chest pain and cough can be somehow linked, then why other parts of the body hurt during coughing still needs to be figured out. For example, a cold is characterized by infection affecting the entire body. Therefore, in this case, pain can spread to several body systems at once.

Headache. The cause of a cough can be an allergic reaction, which usually entails the occurrence of other symptoms, among others. Interestingly, people who smoke often suffer from migraines caused by tobacco smoke. Nicotine causes blood vessels to constrict, which leads to increased blood pressure. In addition, some people experience headaches due to sudden changes in weather conditions. Often it is cloudy rainy weather that causes a similar symptom, so on such days it is better to save yourself with painkillers.

Abdominal pain. This symptom may occur as a consequence of a serious illness (pneumonia, pleurisy). After experiencing high-intensity coughing attacks, the torso muscles could suffer. But this pain will not last more than three days, and you will immediately understand that the problem is in the muscles. But if a woman’s lower abdomen hurts, then perhaps the inflammatory process is concentrated not only in the respiratory area, but has also spread to the ovaries. As you know, cough can occur with reflux, which is characterized by the reflux of stomach contents into the esophagus.

Abdominal pain can also be another symptom characteristic of the following diseases:

gastritis;
increased stomach acidity;
peptic ulcer.

Chest pain when coughing - treatment and diagnosis

If the pain that appeared earlier recurs again after some time, then you should urgently contact a therapist who will refer you to various examinations of the whole body. Depending on the type of illness, the patient is referred for examination to a doctor who specializes in such problems.

Treatment

In general, getting rid of the main symptoms consists only of treating the main disease that provoked them. In addition, the success of treatment also depends on the stage of the disease, so it is better not to delay contacting a doctor. Once the diagnosis has been made, the doctor prescribes certain types of medications.

Anti-inflammatory drugs are usually prescribed for pneumonia, pleurisy and bronchitis.
Broad-spectrum antibiotics.
Painkillers and antibiotics for people suffering from cholecystitis.
A set of procedures to restore spinal mobility in the event of osteochondrosis.

Chest pain when coughing can appear for various reasons, but only a specialist can determine the true one. Do not think that the cause of such pain with cough can be pneumonia or bronchitis. After all, besides them, there are many diseases that may not make themselves felt for quite a long time. Therefore, at the first symptoms, it is better to seek help from a doctor as soon as possible.

Cough does not pose a serious threat to human life, but can serve as an indicator of a complex disease. What to do if your chest hurts when you cough?

The process of coughing

Cough itself is a protective function of the body, activated when cough receptors come into contact with irritants - strong odors, viruses, bacteria, foreign bodies, dust, animal hair, etc. During the act of coughing, the human brain receives a signal from irritated receptors and sends a message to the muscles of the larynx, trachea, bronchi, back, neck and abdominal cavity to go into active action. The muscles contract, a short deep breath occurs, the trachea narrows and a sharp, rapid exhalation of air flow occurs, with which the irritant that caused the cough should be released.

What can cause pain?

The synchronous interaction of such a large number of muscles can provoke small contractions in related areas of the body. And if there is a pathology in them, then a person’s chest hurts after coughing. However, if the pain is one-time and does not recur, then there is most likely nothing to worry about, since a single spasm can be caused by incorrect body position, heavy lifting, or active sports.

Possible etiologies for why chest hurts when coughing may be diseases of the cardiovascular system, respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract, spine, various neuralgia, tumor processes and neoplasms of the chest, including in the mammary glands in women, inflammatory processes in the muscles .

Determining the etiology of pain

When a strong cough causes chest pain for more than 5 days (7 days after a cold or ARVI), or the pain is very sharp, stabbing, unbearable, you should immediately consult a specialist to rule out dangerous diseases that pose a threat to life.

Doctors prescribe diagnostic procedures for the heart muscle and blood vessels, then the lungs and stomach and other internal organs in the chest area for tumors.

After a thorough examination of the functional state of the internal organs, specialists will be able to make an accurate diagnosis and prescribe comprehensive treatment for the pathology. How to treat a patient who has had chest pain from coughing for a long time must be decided by the doctor; self-medication can lead to negative health consequences. The most positive and rapid results are obtained in the treatment of early stages and initial forms of diseases.

Attention! You should be very concerned about the situation if your child has chest pain when coughing - contact your pediatrician immediately.

Clinical analyzes of biomaterials

When you first contact a therapist or family general practitioner, the specialist prescribes a clinical and detailed biochemical blood test. We need indicators such as complete leukocyte formula, bilirubin, ALT, AST, antistreptolysin O, rheumatoid factor; urinalysis and cardiac electrocardiography. After receiving the results, the doctor will have a working hypothesis and direction for further procedures to make a diagnosis.

Diagnosis of heart condition

Suspecting problems with the heart (when there is pain under the right breast when coughing), the cardiologist conducts an ultrasound examination of the heart and a “stress test” - a cardiogram of the heart after sports activity in the form of running on a treadmill or riding an exercise bike, and compares the results with the lines of the cardiogram at rest . By checking a person’s heart for the condition of blood vessels, valves, wall thickness and volume of cavities, as well as reaction to cardio stress, we can confidently say whether the pain is related to the heart and whether the patient has anything to worry about.

Respiratory examination

If it hurts when coughing under the left breast (or in both), and heart tests show a normal state, pulmonologists take on the research. An X-ray of the lungs is prescribed to study the pattern of lung tissue, vessels and ducts. Often these studies end with a diagnosis of bronchial vascular spasms after an illness with severe coughing attacks. In such cases, clinic patients complain that the cough has gone away and their chest hurts. After prescribing antispasmodics and sometimes bronchodilators, the pain disappears within a few days. Untreated bronchitis and obstructive cough can also cause mild burning pain in the chest when coughing. Pulmonologists prescribe inhalation of bronchodilators and mucolytic drugs in combination.

Things are worse if, with any slightest cough, the pain under the chest is so severe that the person cannot swallow or breathe, and inhalation and exhalation are accompanied by wheezing and shortness of breath. Another alarming symptom is the release of blood with sputum when coughing and at the same time there is very strong pain in the chest. This symptom is often characteristic of tuberculosis and requires early diagnosis by doctors. In such cases, after the results of radiography and according to indications, pulmonologists prescribe a bacteriological examination of mucus (throat smear) to determine the sensitivity of microorganisms to antibiotics, bronchoscopy, and less often spirometry and plethysmography. Bronchoscopy allows the doctor to see the condition of the bronchi, examine the trachea and ducts for physiological changes and the presence of tumors, and take biological material to study the condition of the mucous membrane and sputum clots.

On a note! In medical practice, there are cases where allergic swelling of the bronchial mucosa during coughing caused severe acute pain in the chest area, and less than an hour after taking antihistamines, the pain went away.

Study of the condition of the stomach

A cough that causes sharp sharp pain in the center of the chest under the ribs (closer to the solar plexus) may be a symptom of an exacerbation of intestinal and duodenal ulcers.

People suffering from chronic gastric reflux (regurgitation of part of the food they eat) often experience chest pain when coughing. Reflux itself is normal in the digestive process in children; in adults, it is more common with pharyngeal spasms due to psychosomatics and anorexia and is treated by a psychotherapist using ataractic medications.

Breast diseases in women

Pain in the chest in women when coughing can be observed in the initial stages of cancer or the presence of neoplasms. If you suspect symptoms of breast disease, palpate the breasts and armpits for nodules and lumps. If detected, consult a gynecologist or mammologist to prescribe examinations (breast ultrasound, mammography)

Neuralgia

Prolonged exposure to stressful situations and mental stress in combination with a long stay in an unchanged sitting position, disruption of sleep and wakefulness, unbalanced nutrition and oxygen starvation lead to neuralgic consequences:

damage to individual nerves;
pinching of nerve plexuses and roots;
spasm of the chest muscles.

A normal cough, involving a certain group of muscles, provokes an increase in the tone of neighboring muscles and nerve endings - this becomes the cause of pain. At the same time, there is pain inside the chest under the right breast from coughing, and it is often impossible to take a sharp breath. The condition is similar to pain during a heart attack, intercostal colic. But with neuralgia there are no disturbances in the functioning of the heart, and after an echo and electrocardiogram the patient is sent to a neurologist. Therapy for such diseases of the nervous system is as follows:

prescription of B vitamins and magnesium (for example, Neuromultivit, Magnesium B6, Magneliz B6);
prescribing medications based on the herbal component ginkgo biloba, which stimulates the central nervous system;
massage courses, reflexology to relieve muscle hypertonicity (in more severe cases - osteopathy sessions);
local pain relief by rubbing in ointments and gels based on NSAIDs (indomethacin, diclofenac, nimesulide);
normalization of work and rest schedules, balanced nutrition.

Traumatology and neurosurgery

Pain in the chest when coughing, playing sports, or sudden movements can sometimes be associated with previous injuries to the spine or ribs, as well as with an inflammatory process in the paravertebral tissues. Ointments from non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (indomethocin, diclofenac, nimesulide) help to quickly reduce pain and spasms. This group of medications is also available in the form of tablets and rectal suppositories. But if you have diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, you should refrain from taking them without consulting a doctor. It is also not recommended to make warming compresses. Heat exposure provokes the growth of neoplastic cells and the progression of the inflammatory process, and this can lead to serious complications.

Important! If the pain does not go away more than 2 months after the injury or develops into pain in the legs and arms, then clinical studies are necessary.

A number of serious vertebral diseases that cause pain are not diagnosed on x-rays. For example, hemangioma of the vertebral body is a genetic disease that requires urgent surgical treatment if it worsens and increases in size. To obtain a complete picture of the condition of bone tissue, computer or magnetic resonance imaging is used.

Cough is common. It can be triggered by various factors. When there is pain in the chest when coughing, it is necessary to determine the cause, conduct a diagnosis, and prescribe the correct treatment.

Causes of pain and symptoms

The causes of pain can be different. Some people mistakenly think that it is caused exclusively by colds, but there can be many factors that provoke the cough reflex. Why does a strong cough cause pain?

When small particles - dust particles, bacteria - enter the respiratory tract, they are eliminated using mucociliary transport - a protective system that includes mucus lining the respiratory tract and special ciliated cells. Their cilia vibrate from inside to outside, constantly evacuating mucus with particles included in it from the respiratory tract. If the mucous membrane is inflamed due to the ongoing infectious process, the activity of mucociliary transport decreases, so the body exhibits a protective reaction. Cough is the same reflex-protective function.

Thus, cough is not a disease, but a symptom of a specific illness that needs to be diagnosed. Chest pain with it indicates an urgent need for treatment.

Its main symptoms:

burning;
difficulty breathing, especially during an attack;
frequent shortness of breath;
pain when inhaling/exhaling even in a calm environment.

Important! Even a small pain syndrome cannot be ignored.

When the chest hurts when coughing, the main reasons for this are:

Bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma. These diseases are usually accompanied by paroxysmal cough, which is not easy to get rid of. This constant pressure on the chest provokes pain.
Other respiratory diseases. Adults tolerate them more easily than children; chest pain with such infections is often found in children. A dry cough is accompanied by shortness of breath; if discharge with sputum appears, the child may choke. All this also causes chest pain.
Stress. For some, it is surprising that a cough can be triggered by worries, stress, and anxiety. In fact, with nervous disorders, people often experience suffocation, which causes a cough reflex with painful sensations.
Stretching of the intercostal muscles. It can be caused by various ailments: colds, tuberculosis, even lung cancer.
Other reasons. These include: intercostal neuralgia, chest injuries, pleurisy, other diseases, heart disease.

Important! Sometimes it is possible to detect lung cancer and other similar diseases in the early stages, thanks to a timely visit to the hospital with a complaint of acute chest pain when coughing.

In the middle

Pain in the middle of the chest is a sign of the following diseases:

Bronchial diseases. Most often, this is how bronchitis manifests itself, caused by an inflammatory process that begins in the respiratory system as a result of infection. Discomfort occurs when sneezing or coughing.
Angina pectoris. It is a disease of the cardiovascular system. The pain has a stabbing sensation and can sometimes be so severe that the person is afraid to take a deep breath.
Costochondritis (Tietze syndrome). It is characterized by inflammation in the cartilaginous part of the ribs in the area of their attachment to the sternum.

Behind the sternum

Painful sensations behind the sternum usually appear simultaneously with a strong burning sensation in this area. They become especially aggravated when a coughing attack occurs in a horizontal position. This phenomenon is called gastroesophageal reflux. This is the reflux of stomach contents back into the esophagus due to weakness of the sphincter at the border of these two organs. In this case, pain occurs due to the effect of hydrochloric acid contained in gastric juice on the mucous membrane of the esophagus.

Then a cough gradually appears. It happens that a person suddenly has a hoarse voice, shortness of breath, and a coughing attack.

To eliminate these symptoms, it is usually recommended to take heartburn medications. Frequent chest pain caused by gastroesophageal reflux is dangerous because with systematic exposure to acid on the esophageal mucosa, a malignant tumor may occur.

Important! If you experience severe chest pain or heartburn when coughing, you should consult a gastroenterologist.

On right

Pain when coughing in the right side of the chest is usually associated with the following diseases:

Liver and biliary tract. Painful sensations are usually dull, paroxysmal, and are associated with eating junk food. A coughing attack with chest pain begins after eating fatty, fried, smoked foods.
Gastrointestinal tract. Diseases of the digestive system associated with the inflammatory process can also provoke a coughing attack with severe pain in the chest on the right side. They are gastritis, ulcers, and others.
Pneumonia. Pain in the right side of the chest leads to the fact that a person has difficulty breathing, and other symptoms appear: fever, weakness, muscle aches.

Less commonly, this problem can occur with myositis, scoliosis, mental illness, and complicated premenstrual syndrome.

Left

When pain occurs on the left side of the sternum, this indicates the presence of the following diseases:

Pneumonia. The pain is especially acute when pneumonia is complicated by pleurisy. Painful sensations are accompanied by fatigue, loss of strength, and high fever.
Angina pectoris. Pain occurs in the heart area. Usually a person does not immediately understand what it could be. Some take Corvalol and other heart medications.

Which doctor treats

You can determine which doctor to see after visiting a general practitioner or family doctor. Considering that cough with chest pain can be caused by completely different diseases, the therapist will give a referral to the right specialist. If the disease is a cold, he will take care of the therapy himself.

If it turns out that there are no signs of a cold, the patient will receive a referral for a cardiogram to rule out heart problems. You may also need the help of a pulmonologist, gastroenterologist, neurologist, or otolaryngologist. The location of pain in the chest can determine an accurate diagnosis.

Advice! When visiting a therapist, be sure to describe in detail the nature of the pain when coughing, frequency, location, and other sensations.

It is important to carry out diagnostic measures as soon as possible, because a cough with chest pain can be a sign of serious illnesses, including lung cancer. Before performing the procedures, the doctor examines the patient and determines the area where pain is felt. After this, the following may be assigned:

general blood test, urine test;
X-ray;
sputum analysis (for wet cough);
bronchoscopy;
Cardiography, others.

If there is a suspicion of cancer, a biopsy may be prescribed.

Interesting! If you have a cough without fever, the likelihood of colds and pneumonia is low. Therefore, before visiting a doctor, it is recommended to measure your temperature several times throughout the day.

How to treat the disease

Chest pain is provoked by the cough reflex, so to eliminate it, it is necessary to treat the disease. The choice of medications depends on the cause of the cough. In most cases, anti-inflammatory drugs are prescribed, which are supplemented by taking medications against the underlying disease.

For example, if a cough is caused by bronchitis, drugs are prescribed that thin the mucus and accelerate its removal from the bronchi. Antibiotics are often used that can eliminate pathogens in a short period of time. Syrups, mixtures, tablets, and lozenges that have a softening effect are also prescribed.

Antibiotics are used to control the attacks, which often occur at night. If you have a severe cough, drinking plenty of warm fluids is recommended; treatment at home using traditional methods is also effective:

taking a drink made from butter and milk;
herbal teas, preferably with lemon;
pure honey;
inhalations, especially herbal ones.

If there are injuries to the chest, intercostal neuralgia, which provoke a cough with painful sensations, it is dangerous to self-medicate. It is necessary to contact the appropriate specialists. For some injuries, you have to undergo surgery, go for a massage, and do breathing exercises.

There are many reasons that can provoke a cough with chest pain. To determine an accurate diagnosis, you need to consult a doctor, describe the location of the pain, and undergo diagnostics. Treatment is prescribed based on the diagnosis; if the cough is caused by colds, you can supplement the main therapy with folk remedies.