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The diaphragm is a dome-shaped muscle that separates the chest cavity from the abdomen. It plays an extremely important role in breathing. When you hiccup, your diaphragm automatically contracts. This contraction of the diaphragm then triggers a sudden and short closure of the vocal cords, which produces the characteristic sound of a hiccup. What actually causes the hiccup is difficult to say. Attacks of the hiccups can be associated with a several different things: eating or drinking too fast; being nervous or eager; or having pain in the stomach or throat. In some extremely rare cases, the underlying cause of hiccups can be pleurisy (inflammation of the membrane lining of the lungs and chest cavity), pneumonia, certain disorders of the stomach or esophagus, pancreatitis, alcoholism, or hepatitis. Any one of these conditions can cause irritation of the diaphragm or of the phrenic nerves that supply the diaphragm. Irritation is what causes the hiccups.However, the cause of most attacks of the hiccups remains a mystery.

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