Difficulty Breathing, Hurts To Cough Or Move, Breast And Rib Soreness, Back And Arm Pain. Pulled Muscle?

Posted on Thu, 21 Mar 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 Answered on

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : I was goofing around outside yesterday and fell and did a nose plant in the back yard. I landed pretty hard on my right side. I have shortness of breath, hurts to cough, move and bend over. My right breast and upper ribs are extremely sore. The pain goes into my back and my under arm. Is this just a pulled muscle?

Answered by Dr. Pavan Kumar Gupta (2 hours later)

Hello,
Thanks for the query.
Many times, it becomes difficult to tell about such injuries.
This can range from innocuous pulled muscle or some crushed muscle to a fracture.
You can do local icing; take anti inflammatory like ibuprofen 600 mg three times a day, then wait, and watch.

If you don’t find improvement, if your symptoms get worse, or if you find inability to move your arm, then you may consider going to ER and get yourself x-rayed to look for any fracture or dislocation.

I hope it helps. However, you may revert to me for any further query.
Best of luck
Thanks

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Shanthi.E