Rib fracture: home treatment with medicines and folk remedies

Ribs break by people less often than arms or legs. However, this is still a fairly common injury. People often don’t even realize (at least right away) that they have a broken rib. Treatment at home, however, is far from being 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" - the lungs, heart, kidneys, depending on which rib is damaged.

Causes of rib fractures

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

The first category includes:

1. Accident. The most common cause of these fractures, and the injured driver is usually a driver who has hit the steering wheel with his chest in a collision. Pedestrians get similar injuries either in a collision with a car, or when they hit the asphalt, or when moving with a wheel. If a single rib fracture occurs during the accident, home treatment is acceptable if the fracture is not fragmentary and closed.
   
2. Chest blow. With sufficient force and use of any item, the ribs may be damaged.
3. Fall from a certain height. If for a young man this should be a fairly high point (for example, a tree, a fence or the roof of a barn), then in old age, with thinning of bone tissue, you can get a fracture of the ribs, even falling from a chair.
4. Sports injuries.
5. Squeezing (according to the type of press operation). Usually such injuries are industrial. Damage is not limited only to the ribs, they also affect the pelvis, and in some cases the skull. It is clear that more than one rib fracture is formed - treatment at home of such injuries is impossible.

Pathological fractures of the ribs may not form in extreme situations due to weakened bones due to health problems. Among the factors that can provoke such rib fractures are:

1. Rheumatoid arthritis.
2. Cancer metastases: in the chest they give malignant tumors of the breast, prostate, kidney. This also includes bone cancer.
3. Osteoporosis. The brittleness of the bones formed during it leads to the fact that a fracture of the rib can occur even with a slight impact.
4. Lack of sternum - both acquired and congenital.
5. Genetic skeletal abnormalities. Analogues of osteoporosis only have other mechanisms. The essence remains the same - too fragile bones.

People with such abnormalities in the body should be extremely careful to avoid possible injuries.

What are the costal fractures?

They differ in several ways.

1. Skin integrity: divided into closed (without breaking it) and open, with the formation of a wound.
2. The degree of damage to the bone: complete (the rib breaks over the entire thickness), subperiosteal (integrity is partially preserved). A crack, in principle, is also a fracture of the rib. Home treatment after examination and a follow-up visit to the surgeon is the easiest and most harmless option.
3. By location: fenestrated - several fractures on one side - and bilateral - on both. The latter are especially dangerous for lung damage.
4. By the number of injured ribs: single and multiple.
5. By the formation of debris: with displacement (if any) and without it.

Treatment is prescribed taking into account all the signs.

The most common fractures

Usually affected are the bones that form the maximum bend, that is, from fifth to eighth. Of these, a fracture of 8 ribs is most often encountered. 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 quite mobile, due to which, as it were, they bend upon impact. However, if, for example, a fracture of the 9th rib is obtained, the treatment is limited to anesthesia (for example, the use of ketane), dry heat and a sitting position. It is necessary to lie down as little as possible, and for the quickest recovery, the surgeon usually advises walking more. If there is a fracture of 10 ribs, the treatment is no different from the previous one. Additional breathing exercises may be recommended . Its simplest option is to inflate balloons (of course, accurately and without much zeal).

Symptoms of a rib fracture

They are easily recognized even by a person who does not have a medical education. First of all, this is a tense posture of the victim with a pronounced inclination towards the injury. An extensive hematoma with swelling can also speak of a bruise, but if it is present, it is necessary to see a doctor - to take measures in case of a rib fracture. Touching an injured area is much more painful than with a normal bruise. During breathing, the chest is visually behind. And if a person has shortness of breath and an uncharacteristic, whistling sound of breathing, it means that lung damage is quite possible, and immediate hospitalization is required. Pneumothorax usually occurs with complete damage from the fifth to eighth rib; treatment of fracture of the 7th rib begins with the restoration of lung integrity and maintaining respiratory function.

First aid

If a rib fracture is suspected, the best help is not to interfere with unprofessional actions. No need to warm or apply ice, smear or tighten the chest with something. The latter is especially dangerous: if a splinter forms during a bruise, it can pierce a lung or heart when pulled. The victim should be immediately taken to the emergency room, holding in a half-sitting position: it is usually easier to breathe. The maximum that can be done is to give pain medication, and one that will not make breathing difficult. “Promedol” will be quite appropriate, and “Fentanyl” will not be categorically suitable.

Basic treatment

Appointed by x-ray. If the injury is not complicated by anything and a crack or a single fracture of the rib is revealed, the treatment is at home: the medications prescribed by the doctor (usually painkillers) are supplemented with dietary food, designed to help speed up bone fusion. That is, it should be enriched with calcium (milk, cottage cheese, cheese) and protein. If the fractures are unilateral, the doctor may recommend mustard plasters and banks for a healthy side - to prevent lung congestion. Prohibited loads, especially weight lifting. The patient should avoid sudden movements.

If a fracture of the rib with a shift is observed, treatment is carried out only in the hospital until the danger of the penetration of fragments into the tissues disappears.

Starting on the third day, if there is no threat to life, procedures begin, in particular UHF. From the seventh to eighth day after the injury, physiotherapy exercises are introduced.

Treatment duration

Children rarely break their ribs: they still have a few 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 the elderly or weakened injured, this process can take a month and a half. Dates are listed for uncomplicated fractures. With complications, rehabilitation is delayed, since it is the complications that are treated first. Pain can sometimes occur after bone growth within six months after an injury.

Complications that may accompany rib fractures

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

Its symptoms are:

1. Shortness of breath, labored and uneven, ragged breathing.
2. Blood in saliva (hemoptysis).
3. Emphysema under the skin at the fracture site.
4. Breathing is not heard from the affected side.
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, and liver.

Folk remedies

We’ll make a reservation right away: treatment of rib fracture with folk remedies, without following the doctor’s prescription, will not lead to anything good. Alternative medicine can only accelerate recovery. However, to improve the condition and accelerate bone fusion, you can resort to it. Here are some popular recipes:

1. Half a mummy dissolves in rose oil; the drug is given to the victim by a teaspoon twice a day.
2. Coalescence is stimulated by boiled onions: it can be eaten without restrictions on time and quantity.
3. The strengthening of the bones and their rapid fusion is stimulated by such a composition. The shell of a dozen eggs, peeled from the film, is poured with the juice of five pomegranates and left until completely dissolved. Then added crushed garlic (10 medium-sized heads) and 1 liter of honey. The mixed mixture is infused for a day in the room, then three more - in the refrigerator. Three times a day, a spoonful of the drug is drunk, mixed with the same amount of olive oil.

In addition, the treatment of rib fractures with folk remedies involves the active use of very saturated bone broths in food: they also help to restore connective tissues.