A young woman ended up being hospitalized after she went into a coughing fit from eating too much spicy food in Shanghai, China.
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The woman, identified only as Huang, explained to doctors that she was eating spicy food and it caused her to cough on a consistent basis. According to Oddity Central,Oddity Central, Huang’s cough became strained and she allegedly heard a sharp crack from her chest then started to experience pain while speaking and breathing. After a CT scan, doctors told her that she had four fractured ribs and a thoracic surgeron said the cause was due to her poor musculature since her body was reportedly too skinny.
“Your ribs can be seen clearly under your skin. There is no muscle to support the bone, so it’s easy for your ribs to get fractured when coughing,” the doctor said. They advised her to find a solution to fix this issue or else she may experience a similar situation in the future.
Huang thought she was having a stroke when her ribs broke. “At first, I thought it was a stroke or something, I didn’t expect it to hurt this badly. I couldn’t even walk,”she explained.
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Following the doctors’ advice, Huang started wearing a medical corset and she plans to increase her weight and muscle mass.
Is it possible to break your ribs from coughing?
In a report by the NHS, it is possible to break your ribs from a series of intense coughing spells and other factors such as a fall or severe blow to the chest.
“Broken or bruised ribs are usually caused by a fall, a blow to the chest or severe coughing. Symptoms include strong pain in your chest area, particularly when you breathe in, swelling or tenderness around the affected ribs, sometimes bruising on the skin, feeling or hearing a crack if it’s a broken rib.”
Ribs naturally heal on their own over time but doctors suggest ibuprofen or other pain medication to help speed up the process. Also breathing normally and coughing up phlegm and other fluids when needed and holding a pillow against your chest.
Doctors also recommend walking around the home to relax and moving your shoulders to help the body relax. However they do not recommend wrapping a bandage around your rib cage as it can interfere with breathing and lying still for a long period of time. Smoking is also prohibited during the recovery process and lifting heavy objects.