Hi, Coughing involves almost all muscles of chest, neck and abdomen, you can feel this by putting your palm on all areas while coughing. You will also note that the painful part of area on back is tender and pains with felt muscle spasm while straining and coughing having the biggest strain. Hence the cause is self explanatory. I would advise you to take anti-cough measures/medicines to reduce or stop cough and at the same time take medicines that will reduced spasm, inflammation and thus pain. You can apply local liniments which does not increase cough due to its fragrance. IF this is not the case then the cause may be bit internal such as pleurisy and you need clinical evaluation, examination and X-ray chest and CT scan to see for such internal causes and get treated as per the findings. Take care. Hope I have answered your question. Let me know if I can assist you further. Regards, Dr. T. Chandrakant, General Surgeon