There are plenty of tricks to stop a sneeze like looking at the lights or pinching your lip, but doctors advise to never pinch your nose! Especially after one man ruptured his throat while pinching his nose and closing his mouth to contain a sneeze.
The unidentified man reported a popping feeling, swelling of the neck, and had trouble swallowing and speaking after air bubbles were trapped in his throat. Though this damage is rare, doctors do warn against blocking the sneeze. The man was hospitalized for seven days and was given antibiotics and fed through a tube to heal the rupture, but eventually made a full recovery.
“When you sneeze, air comes out of you at about 150 miles per hour,” says the man’s doctor Anthony Aymat. “If you retain all that pressure, it could do a lot of damage and you could end up like the Michelin Man,” he continues. So, if you’re not trying to look like a balloon, just let the sneeze out.
Source: Huffington Post