# Sneezing hurts my joints.  Why?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneezing-hurts-my-joints-why/242580>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 28, 2004, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneezing-hurts-my-joints-why/242580 "2004-04-28T23:40:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TheFifthYear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@TheFifthYear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFifthYear)\
**Post date:** [April 28, 2004, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneezing-hurts-my-joints-why/242580/1 "2004-04-28T23:40:12Z")

</div>

Whenever I sneeze, but particularly after a big sneeze, my elbows and wrists just ache. It comes on slowly (a few seconds after the sneeze), and lasts anywhere from 1-5 minutes.

What causes that? Is it common? I’m the only person I know who has to take claritin for joint aches.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneezing-hurts-my-joints-why/242580/2 "2004-04-29T00:36:32Z")

</div>

IANAD…but I would suspect it is the jolt from the sneeze and not the sneeze itself that’s causing it.