Suggest Treatment For Pain After Suffering From Fractured Ribs

Posted on Sun, 7 Jun 2015

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

Mon, 8 Jun 2015 Answered on

Tue, 30 Jun 2015 Last reviewed on

Question : Hi.

I think I might have a fractured rib. I'm a 57-year-old woman. I had no real injury or trauma. i was aware of symptoms a couple of hours after receiving a number of big, tight hugs. (School reunion!)

Pain upon deeper breathing and movement ensued. The pain in in a specfic area in the front of my chest, and I can feel it in the back of the same side as well. I still have the pain 48 hours later. Laughing or coughing also make it hurt.

Nothing is visible.

Does this sound like a fractured rib? And if it does, do I need to see my practitioner? My understanding is that there's not really any treatment other than letting it heal over the course of some weeks.

Thank you!

Answered by Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (6 hours later)

Brief Answer:
investigation is needed

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

Of course I can't confirm or exclude the rib fracture which sounds like a reasonable cause of your symptoms. I can only say that if you have a rib fracture without memory of significant injury (like a fall for example) then further investigation is needed for various causes of pathological fractures like osteoporosis, tumors etc

The first thing you should do is to visit your doctor for clinical examination and perhaps radiological and/or other tests.

In the meantime you can't do anything more than take some analgesics for the pain.

I hope I've helped!
You can contact me again if you'd like any clarification or further information.

Kind regards!

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar