![\"x-ray](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/C471\/production\/_99598205_8b40ca79-0a4b-4a43-8a7b-2f2e5fa55d6a.png\")
<\/p>\nStifling a sneeze by clamping your nose and mouth shut can cause serious physical damage, doctors are warning.<\/p>\n
Medics in Leicester treated a 34-year-old man who ruptured his throat while trying to stop a high-force sneeze.<\/p>\n
With nowhere to escape, the pressure ripped through the soft tissue, and although rare and unusual, they say others should be aware of the danger.<\/p>\n
Trapping a sneeze could also damage the ears or even rupture a brain aneurysm, they warn in journal\u00a0BMJ Case Reports.<\/p>\n
The man said he felt a “popping” sensation in his neck when it happened and then immediately experienced pain and difficulty swallowing and speaking.<\/p>\n
When the doctors checked him over they found he had swelling and tenderness around his throat and neck.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
An X-ray revealed air escaping from his windpipe into the soft tissue of his neck through the rupture.<\/p>\n
The man had to be fed by a tube for the next seven days to allow time for the tissues to heal.<\/p>\n
After spending a week in hospital, the man was sent home and made a full recovery.<\/p>\n
Doctors from the ear, nose, throat department at Leicester Royal Infirmary, where the man was treated, said: “Halting a sneeze via blocking nostrils and mouth is a dangerous manoeuvre and should be avoided.”<\/p>\n
Sneezes can spread diseases, so although it is good to “let them out”, make sure you catch them in a tissue, say experts.<\/p>\n
With flu season in full swing, children and adults should be encouraged to cover their mouth and nose with a tissue when they cough and sneeze and then throw the tissues away in a bin and wash their hands to stop the spread of germs, says Public Health England.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Stifling a sneeze by clamping your nose and mouth shut can cause serious physical damage, doctors are warning. Medics in Leicester treated a 34-year-old man who ruptured his throat while trying to stop a high-force sneeze. With nowhere to escape, the pressure ripped through the soft tissue, and although rare and unusual, they say others […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":392348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[16208,1727,16207,16209],"class_list":["post-392347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-ear","tag-health","tag-sneeze","tag-sneezing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=392347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/392348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=392347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=392347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=392347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}