I’m interested in knowing about the parts of the body involved and bodily functions that happen when a person blows their nose.
I was at a function this weekend where I ended up sleeping for a few hours on a concrete slab, and now when I blow my nose I get a pain in the deep recesses of my left shoulder. My shoulder feels normal otherwise.
I’m not worried about the pain at all and am not asking for medical advice in any way, but now I am fascinated with what goes on during a nose blow.
I know you can blow out some ear parts if you blow too hard, and probably give yourself a nosebleed. And sneezing can sometimes be hazardous to your health…!
Any good articles or web sites that explain the full impact?
Well, a normal nose blow with clear nostrils is just blowing air out of your lungs and holding your mouth closed thereby forcing it out your nose. Any snot or loose “bogeys” are ejected with the air. There are the eustachian tubes that connect your throat to your ear and allow you to equalise air pressure between your middle ear and the atmosphere. If you’re nose is blocked and you blow your nose then the air may not be able to escape from your nose and may be forced up the eustachian tubes. In extreme cases it is possible to rupture your eardrum doing this. That is the extent of my knowledge, I’m not sure what’s happening with the shoulder, it may just be a muscle pain.
I recently learned that the primary cause of nasal congestion is not just the snot, but swelling of sinuses, which restricts air-flow. So even if you constantly void your mucus machine, you may still find it difficult to breathe until the swelling goes down.
Probably not related to your shoulder, but I found it interesting.
My guess on the shoulder issue is that you’ve aggravated one or more of the scalenes, little thready muscles in your neck. Their primary job is to help turn the head, but a secondary job is that of “accessory muscles of inspiration”. They don’t do much with breathing normally, but they lift the top two ribs to make the ribcage bigger for deep breaths. So they may have gotten irritated from the way your shoulder made your neck misaligned during the sleeping incident, and now be grumbling when you inhale deeply to blow your nose. The scalenes (often) in turn refer pain to the shoulder.
WhyNot,
Massage “It’s Always the Scalenes” Therapist
