Can respiratory diseases cause back pain

The answer is yes. Some respiratory diseases do cause back pain, but this pain is mostly accompanied by respiratory-related symptoms and rarely occurs alone.

You can think of the pleura as two layers of thin cling film attached to the surface of the lungs and the inside of the chest wall. Under normal conditions, its surface is smooth, and it will only slide gently without friction when breathing. If the inflammation of the respiratory tract spreads downward to the pleura, or severe coughing repeatedly stretches the back muscles, it will easily cause pain in the back. Not long ago, our department admitted a 30-year-old Internet practitioner. He developed a low fever and cough after working overtime for a week. At first, he bought cold medicine and took it. The fever went away, but his left back hurt so much that he struggled to even sit and type code for a long time. At first, he thought I suffered from lumbar protrusion after sitting for a long time. I applied plasters and went for massages. The pain became more and more severe before I came to see a doctor. A CT scan revealed that pneumonia in the lower left side had affected the posterior pleura. After a week of symptomatic antibiotics, the cough and back pain disappeared.

Of course, many doctors in clinical practice do not recommend that people first seek respiratory diseases as soon as they experience back pain. After all, there are too many causes of back pain, including muscle strain, cholecystitis radiation pain, angina pectoris, and even thoracic spine problems. If there are no accompanying symptoms such as cough, sputum production, fever, and chest tightness, the probability of giving priority to other problems is higher. However, there are exceptions. A small number of elderly people with weak immunity will not have obvious symptoms of fever and cough when pneumonia attacks. They only have fatigue, back pain, and poor appetite. This kind of situation is easy to miss. If there are elderly people at home, don’t be careless when encountering this kind of situation. It is best to check for lung problems by the way.

If you are not sure whether the pain is caused by respiratory problems, it is easy to distinguish. Respiratory-related back pain is mostly tied to breathing and coughing. The pain will suddenly worsen when you take a deep breath or cough. The pain will be significantly reduced when you hold your breath or stay still. If the pain has nothing to do with breathing, it basically has nothing to do with respiratory infections. In addition, you should also pay attention to special circumstances. If you have a long-term smoking history and inexplicably develop persistent back pain, accompanied by weight loss and coughing up blood, you have to be alert to whether the lung tumor has invaded the pleura or the back ribs. In this case, don't take it hard. It is safer to take a CT scan in time.

If you are really unsure, go to the hospital and ask the doctor to listen to your lungs and take a X-ray if necessary. It is much more reliable than guessing at home.