Can you relieve the symptoms of sinusitis by creating a negative pressure using your lungs?

Question

There seems to be a lot of more or less effective home remedies for relieving the painful pressure buildup in your sinuses when suffering from cold-related sinusitis. They include things like massaging various points on your face, pressing your tongue at the roof of your mouth, using a neti pot to rinse your nasal passage, etc.

But one thing I haven't been able to find any information on, and which for me seems to be a simple solution (if it works) is to simply cover your nostrils and try to breath in, thereby creating a negative pressure which could potentially suck some mucus out of your sinuses, equalize the pressure and relieve the painful pressure-related symptoms.

Could this work, and would it be safe?

Answer 1

In sinusitis, there may already be a negative pressure in the sinuses (nih.gov).

One problem is that in sinusitis the openings that connect the nasal cavity and sinuses are usually clogged, so the attempt to create a pressure difference might be quite hard.

I'm not aware of any published experiments on this topic, but as suggested in one comment: the one who tries it and it works for him/her will know better than anyone. Either a negative or positive pressure (Valsalva) might work. Trying to thin the mucus by using a neti pot or inhaling hot water vapor beforehand might help.

No medical advice here. Warning: exaggerated experimenting with creating different pressure in the nasal cavity may be potentially dangerous.