Explaining Our Anatomy on Instagram: "Hiccups are sudden spasms of the diaphragm, the muscle that helps you breathe. Each spasm snaps the vocal cords shut and creates pressure changes inside your chest and throat. That pressure travels through shared nerve pathways, especially the vagus and phrenic nerves, which also connect to structures involved in hearing and balance. Your ears regulate pressure through the Eustachian tubes, which link the middle ear to the back of the throat. When hiccups di