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Can ribs be bruised but not fractured?
Can a broken rib be broken?
How do you know if your ribs are broken or bruised?
Do doctors treat bruised or broken ribs?
Sep 9, 2023 · Bruised ribs involve muscles, cartilage, tendons, fascia, and other soft tissues surrounding the ribcage. Broken ribs involve fractures of the bones of the rib and sternum. Both can usually be diagnosed with a review of symptoms and a physical exam, but some cases may require an X-ray or CT scan.
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- Overview
- What are the symptoms?
- Common causes
- How it’s diagnosed
- How it’s treated
- How long does it take to heal?
- When to see a doctor
- The takeaway
A bruised rib requires rest and restricted movement to heal. If a rib injury affects your breathing, a doctor may recommend medication or specific breathing techniques.
Your ribs are thin bones, but they have an important job protecting your lungs, heart, and chest cavity. If you experience trauma to your chest, one or more ribs may be bruised, cracked, or fractured.
The main symptom of bruised ribs is chest pain. This pain may feel worse when you inhale. It may also hurt when you laugh, cough, or sneeze. Bending over or moving into other positions may also cause sharp chest pain.
Other symptoms can include:
•tenderness in the area of the bruise
•swelling around the bruised rib
•a bruise that’s visible on the skin
•spasms or twitching in your chest muscles
The most typical cause of a bruised rib is a blow to your chest. This can happen in a car accident or during direct contact in a sport such as football. Falling from a ladder or other high place can bruise or break a rib, as can having something heavy fall on your chest.
Less common causes include excessive coughing or repetitive, strenuous activities, such as rowing or lifting heavy weights.
Diagnosing a bruised rib starts with a review of your symptoms and a physical exam. Your doctor will also listen to and watch your chest while you breathe to see if any lung function may have been affected. A bruised or broken rib may be accompanied by a bruise on your skin.
Whether a bruise is visible or not, your symptoms may require an X-ray. Your rib may have a slight fracture that isn’t detected with an X-ray. In these situations, a CT scan may help the doctor differentiate a break from a bruise.
Other diagnostic tools include a chest MRI. A rib bruise won’t show up on an X-ray, but it can often be detected with an MRI.
A bone scan can be particularly helpful in diagnosing a broken rib caused by repetitive action, such as excessive coughing or rowing, especially when it’s not visible on rib detail X-rays.
Rib injuries are difficult to treat. Unlike a broken arm, for example, that can be set in a cast, a rib injury can’t be wrapped. The practice of wrapping your rib cage is seldom used these days because it restricts you from breathing deeply. Too much shallow breathing places you at risk of developing pneumonia.
Resting and restricting your activities are the main treatment options for bruised ribs. Ice may help relieve some of your pain and swelling.
Since bruised ribs cause pain when you inhale — causing you to take more shallow breaths — your doctor may prescribe medication to help manage your pain. Long-lasting anesthetic injections near the site of the bruise may also help temporarily keep your nerves there from relaying pain signals to your brain.
Your doctor may also advise respiratory therapy. You’ll learn breathing techniques that can reduce some of the pain, while still allowing you to fill your lungs with air.
Bruised ribs usually heal within a month or so, but that process can take longer if one or more ribs are actually broken instead of bruised. If you’re initially diagnosed with bruised ribs but the pain isn’t easing after a couple of weeks, tell your doctor. More imaging or another evaluation may be necessary.
Don’t hesitate to see your doctor if you experience any of these symptoms:
•rib pain when breathing or coughing, especially if you notice bruising or swelling and tenderness around your ribs
•worsening pain in the days or weeks after an injury
•shortness of breath
Bruised ribs can be a painful injury with the potential to affect your lung health. They generally require time to heal and patience to put up with the pain. But if you follow your doctor’s advice, you should be able to fully recover.
There are safe ways to manage your pain. If you’re prescribed opioids or other strong medications, be sure to take them only as prescribed.
5 days ago · Updated March 20, 2024. Rib injuries are a common occurrence that can result from accidents, falls, sports collisions, or even severe coughing. These injuries are extremely painful and can range in severity from bruises to fractures.
Jul 31, 2019 · Bruising is not always a symptom of a broken or fractured rib bone. In this article, we provide pictures and advice about how to diagnose and treat bruised ribs.
Feb 15, 2023 · Bone scan. CT scan. MRI. Show more related information. Treatment. Most broken ribs heal on their own within six weeks. Being less active and icing the area regularly can help with healing and pain relief. Medicines. It's important to relieve pain. Not being able to breathe deeply because of pain can lead to pneumonia.
Apr 19, 2024 · Things to Avoid. |. Video. |. Expert Q&A. |. Tips. |. Warnings. You probably associate a bruise with a purplish spot on your skin, but ribs can get bruised too—usually after a hard fall or a blow to the area. While it might take up to 6 weeks for your ribs to heal, they'll usually get better on their own. [1] .
Mar 26, 2024 · A bruised rib is an injury to the bone that doesn’t cause a break in the bone. It’s like a typical bruise, except you can’t see it because it’s on the bone. In some cases, you may have a skin bruise in the same area. Rib bruises tend to happen with lower-impact injuries, such as a fall.
