anyone here every broken an upper rib?

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actively parsing hurf durf
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I was at my parents this last weekend doing yard work, and on the first day I cut down a set of large bushes. In an attempt to get them with just a set of pruning sheers, I put one of the handles on my chest to get better leverage, about halfway through the branch I heard and felt a loud pop in my chest, at my 3rd rib. I continued to do yardwork until sunday, at wich point it was starting to feel pretty bad.

It hasn't gotten much better. Its moved from just being a chest pain to being a chest, shoulder, and lower neck pain. If I cough, sneeze, laugh, or do anything that makes the chest contract or expand to any large extent it feels like someones moving a knife around that they stabbed into me.

as of right now, I dont know if it's broken, fractured, dislocated, or if its just a tendon/muscle tear. And I dont have the money to go see a doctor.

the rib is kind of too high for the chest wraps I've tried, its at the same level/slightly above the arm pit, so I would need to be able to do it over the shoulder, wich I dont really know how to do. That and I couldn't find 6"x10' wraps...

As long as I dont move hard, cough, sneeze, laugh, or yawn the pain is less then a 2 on the 1 to 10 scale, but its the kind of pain that wears me down because of how consistant it is. I find myself sweating and catching my breath randomly through the day.and those few moments when the front portion of the rib feels like it's burning are pretty unnerving.




SO...... anyone know what the charge would be for a basic chest exam with x-rays would be at doctors on duty, or a similar general practice location? I'm in seaside california (right above monterey)... At this point I just want to know what the damage is, and what I should do to avoid re-breaking it or keeping the wound from healing....
 
The pop sound and your description of symptoms suggests an out of alignment issue. You really should see a Doc.

My ribs were bashed in once and I had pain for many weeks. One night while sleeping, I moved just right, the inflamation must have gone down, and the ribs popped back into place.

You might try a regime of NSAID's like ibuprofen. This will reduce swelling and fluid build up. From the description of the injury it does not sound like a break, but only a Doc can tell you for sure.



munk
 
First go see the doc, then go see the doc, third you can also add hot and cold treatments, 15 minutes of heat (heating pad will do covered in a towel) followed by 5 minutes of ice (please cover the ice with a hand towel or pillowcase to avoid injury) repeat the heat/ice cycle 3 times and do it three times daily. this will help with the inflamation.
 
Sorry to hear about your mishap. I am sure it is pretty painful. I took a tumble several months ago while playing football with the boys. I felt a pop and some minor pain in my lower left rib cage. It didn't really bother me until the next day, when any cough, sneeze or sudden movement sent a sharp pain through my chest. I never did have it checked out (figuring that even if it was a fracture, there was not much to be done about it). Suffered through it for several weeks until it starting getting better. I am guessing it was a cartilege tear rather than a fracture. The hardest part was trying to sleep - if I didn't turn over just the right way, it would "catch" and hurt like crazy. I could feel a distinct "pop" whenever the injured part would fall back into place and the pain would gradually subside.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery. A benefit of having it looked at would be to rule out some injury to your respiratory or nervous systems. Take care.

Eric
 
IF YOUR RIBS ARE BROKEN, THE DOC WILL NOT TAPE OR RESTRAIN YOU IN ANY WAY.....I BROKE 3 ON ONE SIDE ONCE AND THEY...(sorry caps) and they gave me Vicodin and sent me home for 3 weeks of bed rest....apparently taping the ribs promote Pnumonia.
 
Seriously,go see a doctor-the rib may just be out of place-but they may be fractured or broken-if it is "out" it could pop back... or not-if its broken it could get worse.Granted there isn't a whole lot they can do for it...well except for the pain meds:D
 
When my ribs realigned from injury, it was a sharp brief pain, but it brought imediate satifaction to the well being and composite feel of my body. To this day I remember the sound of the ribs coming back home to their right place along the sternum, with fondness and contentment. Sort of a strange cheap thrill out of life, but I'll take it!

After a few days of antiiflamatories, you might try a hot tub, or lying quietly on your back, side, or stomach for the adjustment of the injured part.



munk
 
I tore the cartilage between some ribs once. It felt like the rib was broken. The doctor did an x-ray but said it might not show anything if it was only a crack. Nor would the x-ray show torn cartilage.

My rib would pop out if I moved wrong or coughed. Tape helped a little bit. The only advice from the doctor was to rest and possibly take some pain medication if it hurt too much.

The pain felt much like yours. The rib would move and the internal organs would squish around inside. It was a strange sensation. It took a few weeks to heal up enough for normal activities.
 
Broke all the ribs on the right side except the lower 'floating ribs' in a motor cycle accident. The real damage from a broken rib is a punctured lung; that is nothing to fool around with.....You really need to see a Doc (1) to know for sure whether it is truly broken or just seperated from the sternum, (2) to find the potential for causing further damage, and (3) for the Doc to advise you on activity restraints (what and for how long) you are limited. If you ignore it, and wind up puncturing a lung, your lung will collapse and it will normally drop you (not necessarily fatal, but possibly). None of us want to incurr medical expenses, but they are a damn site better than burial expenses. I'm going into the Hospital Monday for a procedure to locate and hopefully repair a suspected aneurism of the aorta. If I haven't started posting again by the Ides of March, you all will know what happened to me. :D :D :D
 
Jurrassic is right, as he usually is, but if you had a bone sticking in your ribs I think you'd have screamed loud enough by now to have gotten some attention. So that leaves a possibility of an infection starting from a broken sharp edge in the pleura (sic), which is very unlikely, or, the out of place rib, either broken or not, healing in the wrong position causing you discomfort and loss of efficient movement the rest of your life. These things are why you should see a Doc.



munk
 
A chiropracter would be cheaper than a doctor, I think.

Make some calls, like a walk-in clinic, MD, etc.

You need to know.
 
Never broke one but I got 'em separated once in a karate match. I was able to finish the match but it hurt for about 7 months.
 
I did the same thing Bruise did... tore the cartilage. I went and saw the doc and was told there was nothing that really could be done except take the Vicodin he prescribed. He did tell me not to do anything strenuous for the next four weeks... it took every bit of the four weeks to heal up (and then some). The pain was pretty much the same as you described. I walked around with the heel of my hand pressed into my chest for the next month :)

I can't remember if I was on health care at the time or not. The ER visit was $50... meds more. I didn't get an xray for some reason.

Don't worry about the cost though (I know... easily said). It'll definitely be cheaper than having to go because of complications later.

Good luck,

Alan
 
I have broken lower ribs when I was young, hurt like hell, pain eased and I kept going till next day when I twisted and the pain came back.
X-rays showed the problem and I had to rest for a week or so.
Torn losts of cartelidge over the years playing Football (Rugby) and even from an old smokers cough.
Hurts like hell, when it happened it felt like an elastic band snapping in my ribs.
Deep breathing, coughing and even going to the bathroom (for a crap :-))was painfull.
It eases in a week or so and goes away in a month or so.
There is no treatment other than ibuprofen tablets to ease the pain that I know of.
 
Agreed, munk. It has been a few years since the last time it occured, but every time my shoulder has popped back into place after dislocation it has left me with an odd and contradictory feeling of excruciating bliss.


LVE, if I were you I would find an emergency walk-in clinic. It almost definetely will be less expensive than going to the ER and without the multi-week wait for visiting a doctor's office. I've fractured a couple ribs before and I've got to say...yours sounds worse than that, like a misallignment as others have said.
 
It feels better today that it has since it happened... I can cough a little, wich is suprisingly a very nice thing to be able to do.

I need to pay rent before I can even consider any medical help, because that will determine my financial situation....

If it gets dramatically better over the next week, then I may consider letting it rest until it gets better... I'll definitely look into the local walk in clinics and see what there general exam fee's are.

thank you everone for your responses :D
 
I did something to my sternum that is very similar. It has been hurting for weeks, but mostly only when I sneeze. . . So I try to avoid that.
 
again go to the doc now..... in case you didnt get that from the previous twenty comments.... seriously man, while broken ribs cant really be treated you never know what may arise out of them.
 
"... seriously man, while broken ribs cant really be treated you never know what may arise out of them" valleytinworks


That's right. The last thing you need is for one of them Alien hatchlings to come out of there.




munk
 
Being from Canuckistan, I was temporarily confused when you said you couldn't afford to see a doctor. Sorry to hear about the financial situation. I hope things take a turn for the better!

People complain about our health system up here, sure, but it's nice to at least be able to see a doctor when we're in pain!
 
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