What happens when you're winded?

Being "winded" is technically a hard blow or blunt trauma to the solar plexus, which causes pain & difficulty breathing, but why do we have this reaction?


Asked by: Anonymous

You feel a severe pain in the chest and can hardly breathe, which can be very frightening. This is usually caused by a hard blow to the solar plexus. This is a complex network of nerves located behind the stomach and near the diaphragm which is the large muscle separating the stomach and abdomen below from the heart and lungs above. The diaphragm goes into spasm and contracts painfully so that you can no longer breathe in and out properly.

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