Fracture of the rib: treatment at home with drugs and folk remedies

Ribs break less often than hands or feet. However, it is still a common trauma. People often do not even understand (at least immediately) that they have a broken rib. Treatment in the home, however, is not carried out in all cases. Most often, the victim is still hospitalized. This is due to the fact that there is a risk of damage to the ribs of vital "neighbors" - lungs, heart, kidneys, depending on which rib is damaged.

Causes of fracture of ribs

The causes of fractures can be conditionally divided into, so to speak, natural and pathological.

The first category includes:

1. Accident. The most common cause of these fractures, with the injured usually the driver who hit the chest on the steering wheel during a collision. Pedestrians receive similar injuries either when colliding with a car, or when striking against asphalt, or when moving the wheel. If a single fracture of the rib occurs during an accident, treatment at home is permissible in the event that the fracture is not fragmentation and closed.
2. Blow into the chest. With sufficient strength and use of any objects, ribs can be damaged.
3. Fall from a certain height. If for a young person this should be a high enough point (for example, a tree, a fence or a shed roof), then in old age, with thinning of bone tissue, you can get a broken rib from the chair.
4. Sports injuries.
5. Press (according to the type of work of the press). Usually such industrial injuries. Damage is not limited only to the ribs, they also affect the pelvis, and in some cases also the skull. It is clear that there is not one fracture of the rib - it is impossible to treat such injuries at home.

Pathological fractures of the ribs can be formed not in extreme situations due to weakening of bones due to health problems. Among the factors that can provoke such fractures of the rib, you can call:

1. Rheumatoid arthritis.
2. Cancerous metastases: in the chest they are given malignant tumors of the breast, prostate, kidney. This can include cancer of the bones.
3. Osteoporosis. The brittleness of the bones resulting from it leads to the fact that a fracture of the rib can occur even with a slight effect.
4. The absence of the sternum is both acquired and innate.
5. Genetic skeletal anomalies. Analogues of osteoporosis, only have other mechanisms. The essence remains the same - too fragile bones.

People who have such abnormalities in the body should be very careful to avoid possible injuries.

What are the rib fractures

They differ on several grounds.

1. Integrity of the skin: divided into closed (without its violation) and open, with the formation of a wound.
2. Degree of bone damage: complete (the rib breaks down the entire thickness), subperiosteal (the integrity is partially preserved). A crack, in principle, also a broken rib. Treatment at home after the examination and a visit to the surgeon is the easiest and harmless option.
3. By location: the final - several fractures on one side - and bilateral - from both. The latter are especially dangerous for lung damage.
4. The number of injured ribs: single and multiple.
5. By the formation of debris: with a shift (if any) and without it.

Treatment is appointed taking into account all the symptoms.

The most common fractures

Usually the injured are the bones, which form the maximum bend, that is, from the fifth to the eighth. The most common of these is a fracture of the 8th rib. Treatment usually does not include fixation: it is effective only up to 5 ribs. From the ninth to the twelfth, the bones break extremely rarely: they are sufficiently mobile, due to what they seem to bend under the impact. However, if, for example, a rib fracture is received, say, the treatment is limited to anesthesia (for example, using ketanov), dry heat and sedentary position. It is necessary to lie as little as possible, and for a speedy recovery the surgeon usually advises to walk more. If there is a fracture of the 10 ribs, the treatment is no different from the previous one. Additional breathing exercises may be recommended . The simplest version of it is inflating balloons (naturally, neatly and without much diligence).

Symptoms of a broken rib

They are easily recognized even by a person who does not have medical education. First of all, this is the intense posture of the victim with a pronounced inclination towards the injury. An extensive hematoma with a swelling can speak about a bruise, but if you have it, you need to see a doctor - to take action if there is a fracture of the rib. Touching the injured place is much more painful than with a normal bruise. During breathing, the thorax visually lags behind. And if a person has shortness of breath and an uncharacteristic, whistling sound of breathing, then it is possible that the lung is damaged, and immediate hospitalization is required. Pneumothorax occurs usually with complete damage from the fifth to the eighth rib; Treatment of fracture of the 7th rib starts with restoring the integrity of the lung and maintaining the function of breathing.

First aid

If you suspect a fractured rib, the best help is not to interfere with unprofessional actions. Do not heat or apply ice, something to smear or tighten the chest. The latter is especially dangerous: if a bruise formed a fragment, when tugging, it can pierce the lung or the heart. The victim must be immediately taken to the emergency room, holding in a semi-sitting position: it is usually easier to breathe. The maximum that can be done is to give an anesthetic, and one that will not impede breathing. It is quite appropriate to "Promedol", and "Fentanyl" categorically does not fit.

Basic treatment

Assigned by X-ray results. If the injury is uncomplicated and there is a crack or a single rib fracture, the treatment is at home: medications prescribed by the doctor (usually pain relievers) are supplemented with dietary nutrition designed to help the early bone growth. That is, it must be enriched with calcium (milk, cottage cheese, cheese) and protein. If the fractures are unilateral, the doctor can recommend mustard and cans to the healthy side - to prevent stagnation in the lungs. Loads are prohibited, especially heavy lifting. The patient should avoid sudden movements.

If there is a fracture of the rib with displacement, the treatment is carried out only in the hospital, until the danger of penetration of fragments into the tissue disappears.

Starting with the third day, if there is no threat to life, procedures begin, in particular UHF. From the seventh to the eighth day after the injury, therapeutic exercise is introduced.

Duration of treatment

Children break the ribs quite rarely: they have several soft, elastic bones. But, if this happens, rehabilitation takes only 2-3 weeks. In young people, the ribs grow together for about a month. In elderly or debilitated injured, this process may take a month and a half. Timelines are listed for uncomplicated fractures. In case of complications, rehabilitation is delayed, since complications are primarily treated. Pain can sometimes occur after bone fusion within half a year after injury.

Complications that can accompany fractures of the ribs

In most cases, there are closed types of this injury. However, without external damage, fracture of the ribs can be very dangerous for health if fragments are formed. Multiple fractures are most often accompanied by a violation of the integrity of any part of the respiratory organs, resulting in pneumothorax.

His symptoms are:

1. Shortness of breath, difficulty and uneven, ragged breathing.
2. Blood in saliva (hemoptysis).
3. Emphysema under the skin at the site of the fracture.
4. From the affected side, breathing is not audible.
5. Deterioration of the general condition of the injured.

Penetration of fragments of ribs into the heart muscle usually leads to immediate death; Symptoms are absent.

Fragments of the lower ribs can damage the kidneys, spleen, liver.

Folk remedies

Immediately specify: treatment of fracture of the ribs by folk remedies, without compliance with the prescription of the doctor, will not lead to anything good. Alternative medicine can only speed up recovery. However, it is possible to resort to it to improve the condition and speed up the adhesion of bones. Here are a few folk recipes:

1. Half a gram of the mummy dissolves in rose oil; The remedy is spread over a teaspoon twice a day.
2. Growth is stimulated by boiled onions: it can be eaten without any restrictions on time and quantity.
3. Strengthening of bones and their rapid fusion is stimulated by such a composition. A shell of a dozen eggs, peeled from the film, is poured with five garnet juice and left until completely dissolved. Then add pounded garlic (10 heads of medium size) and 1 liter of honey. The mixed mixture is infused in the room for a day, then three more - in the refrigerator. Three times a day, a spoonful of a drug is drunk, mixed with the same amount of olive oil.

In addition, the treatment of fracture of the ribs with folk remedies suggests actively using highly saturated bone broth in the diet: they help restore connective tissues.