If you’ve ever tried to stifle a sneeze, one patient’s serious injury should be a lesson to us all that we should just let it out.

You won’t believe this sneezing story…

Doctors writing in BMJ Case Reports tell the story of a man who tried to hold in a sneeze by pinching his nose shut and keeping his mouth closed.

He told doctors that afterwards he could feel a popping sensation in his neck, and he had also lost his voice and found it incredibly painful to swallow.

After examining the patient, doctors found that he had torn the back of his throat! Yikes.

The report says that the man had to stay in hospital for seven days, being fed by a tube.

Feel a sneeze coming on? Here’s what the NHS advises…

The NHS advises that you sneeze into a tissue, then bin it and wash your hands. If you don’t have a tissue, sneezing into your elbow stops you getting germs on your hands and then spreading them around.

Read more Science stories – including news of assassin spiders on Madagascar and super-strong waves that can move boulders –  in this week’s First News newspaper. 

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