Diagnosing A Bruised Rib
Contact sports like football and martial arts may put you at risk of bruising one or more ribs. In addition to high-impact activities, something as seemingly insignificant as a persistent cough can cause a bruised rib, notes the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Although not as serious as a broken rib, training with bruised ribs is painful and scary. Their symptoms are different than those of a bruise to your leg or shoulder, with the typical black and blue spotting. You might not see any discoloration or swelling since the blood is pooling deeper under the skin.
According to Kaiser Permanente, the symptoms of a broken or bruised rib might be the same. You might need X-rays to determine the severity of your injury. Either way, you’ll most likely feel a sharp pain in your ribs when you breathe deeply or cough.
Its Not A Broken Rib So What Else Could It Be
You dont need to break a rib to have pain. Bruised ribs can be extremely painful, too. The treatments for bruised ribs are the same as those for fractured ribs, but the expected healing time is shorter.
An injury or strain to the muscle or cartilage in the rib area can also cause pain. Your healing time will depend on what kind of injury you have and how severe it is, but it can take weeks.
Link To More Serious Injuries
In and of itself, a rib fracture is painful but not life-threatening. However, rib fractures are often closely linked to other more serious injuries.
With rib fractures, doctors are more suspicious of the following:
- Air and blood in the chest cavity
- Vascular injury to the blood vessels in the chest
- Intra-abdominal injury
- Injury to the airway
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Are There Any Signs Or Symptoms I Should Be Concerned About
Occasionally, rib injuries can cause damage to your lungs. Usually, any lung damage will be diagnosed during your initial exam. But sometimes, lung injuries arent noticeable right away.
As you recover, youll want to keep an eye out for any signs of a punctured lung or pneumonia.
Seek immediate medical care if you experience:
- difficulty catching your breath
- coughing up mucus more often or coughing up thicker mucus
- coughing up blood
For Preventing Further Trauma:
Based upon your job and the severity of your injury, you may have to take time off work. To prevent further trauma, in addition to using a broken rib brace, you can also use ice packs to help reduce the inflammation in the early stage itself.
While all these treatments can help mitigate the pain of your broken or injured ribs, there are also some other measures to help relieve the pressure. An important part in this is played by the physical therapy. Lets see about this in detail below:
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Bruised Broken Or Fractured
The chest wall can become injured in many ways. Most often, it’s the result of blunt force trauma during a car accident or fall.
The bones of the ribcage and sternum can break/fracture. The muscles supporting the ribcage can also be injured, strained, or bruised.
To understand your injury, it may help to know what healthcare providers mean when they use different terms.
Treating Your Broken Ribs At Home
In most cases, ribs are excellent at healing themselves. However, during your recovery time, its important that you get adequate rest and tend to the pain to optimize healing. This includes:
- Taking ibuprofen or paracetamol pain relievers regularly.
- Using an ice pack to reduce the pain and swelling around your chest.
- Resting when needed, which means taking time off work if your job involves physical labor.
- Staying mobile when not resting, which can help your breathing and clear mucus from your lungs.
- Holding a pillow to your chest when you need to cough.
- Practicing breathing exercises to keep your lungs clear.
If youre experiencing extreme pain or your ribs havent healed after six weeks, visit a medical professional. FastMed Urgent Care offers affordable and compassionate care, and our healthcare professionals strive to see each of our patients promptly, making your visit as fast as possible.
Find a FastMed near you to get the care you need for your injured ribs.
NHS: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/broken-or-bruised-ribs/
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What Kinds Of Activity Can I Do
If youve broken a rib , one of the best things you can do is simply rest. This will not only reduce some of the pain but also help your body navigate the healing process.
Still, you need some level of physical activity for the rest of your body and overall health. Youll be able to get up and walk around pretty early in the recovery process, but its best to wait until your healthcare provider gives you the green light.
Once you get the go-ahead to start walking around, you can also return to other low-impact activities, including:
- sexual activity
The main symptom of broken ribs is ongoing pain, so controlling that pain and discomfort is essential to a better recovery. Reducing your pain, even a little, can allow you to breathe normally and cough without too much discomfort.
Gentle Range Of Movement Exercises
Following a chest wall injury, it is important to start gently moving, as comfort allows, as soon as possible. Even a bruised rib can take up to 8-12 weeks to fully heal, therefore, it is important that you gradually build up your general exercise in this period. Following a physiotherapy assessment, you will be given guidance regarding specific exercises to aid your recovery. Fear of movement and protective postures can cause muscle imbalance around your thoracic spine and chest, meaning that pain persists for a longer period than the injury takes to heal. Therefore, early mobilisation is recommended to promote spinal mobility and prevent persistent pain.
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Active Cycle Of Breathing Technique
What is it?ACBT is a technique to help clear sections from your chest. Pain and fatigue can sometimes limit the strength of your cough. The ACBT uses different types of breathing to make it easier for you to clear the secretions from your lungs towards your main airway .
What do I do?ACBT is split up into 4 sections:
How long?Complete for about 10 minutes, or until your chest feels clear OR until you are tired.
If you have an infection you will need to do the cycle several times a day. Three deep breaths every half hour is a good way to check for sections and improve ventilation.
Respiratory Therapy For Rib Fracture
Physical respiratory therapy is the second pillar of treatment for rib fractures . Here, the patient is instructed to breathe more deeply. In addition, certain breathing techniques, as well as inhalations, help to expectorate bronchial secretions . Respiratory therapy can be carried out on an outpatient basis.
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Be Honest With Your Doctor
Sometimes, it can be tempting to downplay pain. Whether you want to look tough, or simply dont want to cause a fuss, remember that your doctor relies on you to convey the depth of your pain, so they can properly treat you. The main goal of recovering from a broken rib is pain management. Youll still feel the damage to your body, especially in the beginning, but your doctor can provide you with medication that, when taken as recommended, can dull the pain substantially so that breathing and moving through your life feels a bit more natural.
Signs And Symptoms Of Broken Ribs
The biggest symptom of a broken rib is pain with breathing, which then causes the patient to breathe with shallow breaths. This is not conducive to proper gas exchange so the first intervention is to encourage deep breathing. Complications from shallow or inadequate breathing can include pneumonia, infection, collapsed lungs, and feeling faint. The patient can be given an incentive spirometer to encourage this: the patients breaths are measured while breathing through a connecting tube on a portable device.
If the patient hears a grating sound with breathing or movement, they must seek medical attention. This could be a potentially fatal condition where a portion of the chest wall moves separately than the rest of the chest and lungs something that may happen if the patient has multiple breaks in adjacent ribs and back.
One of the other symptoms felt after a fracture is rib pain with movement. Coughing, pressure from lying on something, or twisting and bending over maneuvers can cause a lot of pain.
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Signs And Symptoms Of A Rib Fracture Include
- Pain over the fracture site can be at the front or side of the chest, or at the back
- Pain may appear as chest pain, or radiate to the shoulder, neck or spine
- Can experience an ache, particularly initially after injury
- Pain with coughing, sneezing or laughing
- Difficulty lying on the injured side
- Pain with trunk movements or arm movements
Rib fractures tend to heal in 6-8 weeks. During that time, physiotherapy can reduce your pain and maximise recovery.
Safe Exercises When Recovering From Bruised Ribs
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Bruising your ribs can happen during a car accident, while playing sports, or during a fall. Initially, there can be significant discomfort causing you to avoid physical activity of any kind. Bruised rib recovery can include exercise once swelling, pain and soreness start to subside. In fact, its important to stay active to avoid fluid buildup in your lungs. However, strenuous exercises, such as lifting heavy weights or movements that involve pushing or pulling can actually do more harm than good. Instead, you should start with safe exercises for bruised ribs and increase your level of activity gradually as your bruised ribs start to heal. Talk with your doctor before starting any exercise program.
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Typical Physical Therapy Program For Rib Pain In New York City
- Manual therapy: one of the major components of treatment for most types of rib pain is manual therapy, in which the therapist performs a series of gentle mobilizations and manipulations to the tissues of the ribs with their hands
- Stretching exercises: these exercises will target the shoulders and the trunk, and will also focus on expanding the diaphragm to improve deep breathing
- Strengthening exercises: in some cases, rib pain is due to misalignment of the ribs if this is the case, the therapist will first work to realign these bones, and then prescribe exercises to help maintain strength along the ribs
- Postural education: corrective exercises used to help restore and maintain the alignment of the ribcage and mid-spine will also be performed, since its important for the diaphragm and rotator cuff to work optimally doing so will help ensure the ribcage is aligned over the pelvis in both sitting and standing positions
- Other passive modalities: the therapist may also apply some treatments to address your rib pain, including ultrasound, heat and a device called TENS
Treatment For A Rib Fracture
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What Pain Medications Can I Take For Fractured Ribs
Several options for managing your pain are available, but its important to be aware of possible side effects. For example, prescription pain medication along with decreased activity, can cause constipation.
Treatment for pain relief can include:
Be sure to follow the prescribing instructions, and contact your healthcare provider if you have questions about your medications.
Bruised Ribs : Symptoms Therapy Duration
A contusion of the ribs, is a blunt, closed injury to the bony ribcage, for example as a result of a fall or blow. Often it is a sports injury. But also a fall on the stairs or in the bathroom often causes a contusion of the ribs. Pain is the main symptom of this injury. Read more about: What is a rib contusion or bruised ribs? What to do about the pain? How long does the healing process take?
Rib Fracture : Symptoms Treatment Healing Time
A rib fracture is a bony injury to the ribs , which is usually very painful . Due to its anatomical position, the fourth to ninth rib is most frequently affected . Find out here how to help a person affected by a rib fracture, how the doctor can diagnose and treat the rib fracture and how long the healing process takes .
ICD codes for this disease: S22 S27 J94 J93
Secondary Injuries Are Hard To Spot
Up to 25% of all rib fractures are detected not on X-ray but by physical examination.
Furthermore, damage to cartilage may be impossible to spot on an X-ray. Other diagnostic tools to visualize rib fractures, including fractures in cartilage, can include CT scans, MRI, and ultrasound.
Finally, damage to cartilage may be impossible to spot on an X-ray. Ultrasound is emerging as a potential diagnostic tool to visualize rib fractures, including fractures in cartilage.
What If The Pain From A Broken Rib Is Getting Worse
If your rib pain is getting worse, be sure that youre not doing anything to aggravate the injury. If you develop new or worsening symptoms, such as increased shortness of breath, fever, or increased pain, get immediate medical help. If youve been in an accident and have concerns about your health or safety, call 911 or go to an emergency room.
Following up with a healthcare provider is important. For those 65 years of age and older, the risk of lung infection increases by 27%, and the risk of death by 20%, with each additional rib thats broken. Thats why its necessary to get medical help for new or concerning symptoms.
How Is A Broken Rib Treated
Broken ribs usually occur from trauma to the chest, such as from a fall, motor vehicle accident or impact during contact sports. Most people who suffer a broken rib actually have a cracked rib, according to the Mayo Clinic. Cracked ribs aren’t as potentially dangerous as ribs that have been broken, since a jagged piece of bone could damage major blood vessels or internal organs.
Unlike an arm or leg break, a broken rib isnt set in a cast. Instead, the ribs are left to heal on their own, and can take up to six weeks in the case of fracture, and 12 weeks or more if the rib has been torn from the cartilage, according to the Better Health Channel. In the past, doctors would wrap the injured area to help splint and immobilize the area, but are no longer used because they can keep you from taking deep breaths, which can increase the risk of pneumonia.
- Broken ribs usually occur from trauma to the chest, such as from a fall, motor vehicle accident or impact during contact sports.
- Instead, the ribs are left to heal on their own, and can take up to six weeks in the case of fracture, and 12 weeks or more if the rib has been torn from the cartilage, according to the Better Health Channel.
Diagnosis Of A Rib Fracture
A thorough subjective and objective examination from a physiotherapist is important to assist with diagnosis of a fractured rib and to determine the likelihood of associated damage to other organs such as the lungs , liver, spleen or kidneys. Investigations such as an X-ray, MRI or CT scan may be performed to confirm diagnosis.
How Do We Define Pain Due To Rib Cartilage Injury Or Rib Cartilage Fracture
Rib cage or chest wall is formed by 24 ribs, costal cartilages, sternum and vertebral column. Twelve Ribs lies on each side of chest wall and forms half a loop, which covers front, side and back of the rib cage. First seven pairs of ribs are connected directly to the breastbone by a cartilage called Costal Cartilage. These pairs of ribs are also called as True Ribs. Next five pairs of the ribs are known as false ribs. The five false ribs are linked to a common cartilage. The link between 6th to 10th ribs with common cartilage is known as Osteo-Chondral joint. The common cartilage is attached to sternum or breastbone. The last two pairs are not connected to the breastbone at all and they are called as Floating Ribs. The joints of ribcage in our body are held together by ligaments and muscles. The bucket handle movement of ribcage during inhalation and exhalation is achieved by muscles contractions. Ribcage expands during inhalation and contracts during exhalation. Any sort of injury to these cartilages result in severe Rib cage or Chest Wall Pain during inhalation and exhalation with movements of rib and cartilage attached to ribs.