Back Pain and Cough Causes
If you experience back pain when coughing, the first thing to do is to exclude the serious conditions like kidney disease and spine problems. To do so you need to visit a doctor and receive an appropriate diagnosis. The more likely causes of back pain from coughing can be the disease of the back muscles (myositis), intercostal neuralgia, or lung disease (pneumonia, pleurisy). There is an opinion that myositis (muscle inflammation) occur with a cold, if the person gets chilled.
However, it is proved that inflammation of the muscles occurs after the severe muscle strain from heavy lifting; sharp turns of the body or as a result of a spasm of the surrounding area of painful spine. Of course, the weakened condition of the body such as colds contributes to the occurrence of inflammation. When moving, or coughing, the back pain due to myositis will increase.
Intercostal neuralgia is the inflammation of the nerve endings of intercostal space. The common cause of the condition here is the impairment or overload of ligaments due to degenerative disc disease and other changes in the spine. In neuralgia the burning pain is felt in the back while bending forward or while coughing. That is why it is important to fight the cough, and provide the patient with warm and peace, let them lay on their back and rest.
More Causes of Back Pain When Coughing
If along with coughing there is pain in chest and back, and the temperature of the body is 37 degrees by Celsius, one has to undergo chest x-rays to rule out pneumonia or pleurisy. These inflammatory diseases are of microbial origin. Pneumonia – an inflammation of the lungs caused by various bacteria: streptococcus, pneumococcus, staphylococcus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and some others.
The bacteria enter the lungs through the respiratory tract, the blood or lymph. Pneumonia can be mild, moderate and severe until fatal. The main treatment – broad-spectrum antibiotics, selected according to the patient’s sensitivity to the pathogen. Since the disease is caused by germs, warming procedure should not be performed (they are assigned only at the stage of recovery).
Pleurisy – the inflammation of the pleura, the lung membrane, and it is also of the microbial origin (sometimes with the participation of the tubercle bacillus). The disease is provoked by rheumatism, lupus, thrombosis of pulmonary arteries and the tumor. Depending on the cause the pleurisy occurs in different ways, and is accompanied by excruciating pain in the back and chest when coughing. Treatment is complex, carried out only in the hospital, and includes the most powerful antibiotics, strong painkillers and the bandaging of the chest to its immobility.
An ointment for back pain can be applied in all cases, either alone or as part of a comprehensive treatment. In the case of neuralgia there are good gels like Dolobene with analgesic and anti-inflammatory that is applied to the skin lightly with a thin layer 2-4 times a day. The gel penetrates deeply into the skin, providing a fast therapeutic effect, and it leaves no greasy residue and stickiness on the skin surface. It should never be applied on wounds, broken skin or mucous membranes.
For myositis there are warming ointments: kapsikam, Finalgon, as well as anti-inflammatory and analgesic agents: ketonal, Fastum-gel, dikloran. To reduce the burning sensation of a warming ointment you can take a cotton swab dipped in vegetable oil and rub it the area of burning. If you try to wash off the ointment with water, burning will only intensify. Anti-inflammatory drugs do not have a warming effect, but are only able to reduce pain and inflammation. As for the Finalgel (Piroxicam) cream – it cools the sore place. You can apply these ointments 1-2 times per day; in the case of pneumonia the ointments can be used according to the circumstances.
In most cases a massage helps to reduce back pain, and even prevent it if the case or condition is not severe. The massage improves the blood circulation, and increases the elasticity of the muscles. The best choice is to attend the professional masseur; otherwise you can do it yourself if you are experienced enough or have a guidance of an expert masseur.
