Can coughing from asthma cause back pain? My husband and daughter both have asthma and often complain about backaches and pains.

Back pain is linked with asthma in both teens and adults. Whether coughing brings it on is uncertain. Although this makes sense as a possible factor, there are other conditions with coughing that don't bring on back pain. It may not be the coughing itself that triggers the back pain but rather something linked to the asthma.

Scientists think it's possible that some humans are just frailer than others. This puts them at increased risk for many problems. Among them are back pain, asthma, and headaches. It may also explain why some people have recurring bouts of the same problems over and over throughout their lifetime.

Lise Hestbaek, PhD, et al. Comorbidity with Low Back Pain: A Cross-sectional Population-Based Survey of 12- to 22-Year-Olds. In Spine. July 1, 2004. Vol. 29. No. 13. Pp. 1483-1491.