Miller: So a patient falls and is injured in a sports event, a sporting event. Is the injury only in the ribs or is there associated nerve damage? Is there associated muscle damage or other bones affected? Because really, we can't just isolate and just treat the ribs without considering other damage that's occurred as a result of the injury.ĭr. It's one of the things that we have to really talk to patients about and try to differentiate it out. They occur in conjunction with other types of injury. Oftentimes rib fractures don't occur in isolation.
One of the things that we really go down to get the detail about is the mechanism of the injury. Tom, tell us a little bit about when patients come to you for rib fractures and is there a surgical treatment for that? Obviously, you can't cast a fractured rib, so when can you surgically intervene on a fractured rib?ĭr. He's a thoracic surgeon and works in the Department of Surgery here at the University of Utah. We're going to talk about that next on Scope Radio.Īnnouncer: Access to our experts with in-depth information about the biggest health issues facing you today. Miller: Surgical interventions for rib fractures. If you develop a fever (≥38.0 ☌ or 100.Dr.We no longer splint or wrap the chest, because this has been shown to cause lung infections. Try applying ice to the area, to see if this helps. The pain should get much better within two weeks, although you may still have nagging pain for another few weeks.Īvoid any strenuous activity or heavy lifting for the first couple of weeks. Tylenol #3 and Percocet usually also cause constipation, so take an over-the-counter medicine for constipation, such as Metamucil or Docusate, at the same time as taking these medications. These stronger medications can make you drowsy, so do not drive or operate heavy machinery when taking either of them. An hour after you’ve taken one of them, if it still hurts too much to take a deep breath, you can add a stronger pain medication, such as Tylenol #3 or Percocet. To control your pain, start with ibuprofen (which is the same thing as Advil or Motrin) or Naproxen (same thing as Aleve). Normally we do this without thinking about it, but when there is pain we try not to. Take a deep breath every 15 minutes, and have one good cough at least once every hour. This is very important, in order to prevent lung infections such as pneumonia. However, it doesn’t really matter if it is broken or bruised, as long as you are able to take deep breaths, and to cough. This is because X-rays do not display rib fractures very clearly. In the ER, it is sometimes difficult for physicians to tell whether you have fractured (broken) your rib or just bruised your rib.
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