results; if you had undergone this before or know someone who has, what suggestions do you have to help the injured out? It really sucks because my bro loves to engage in athletic activities when not at work, and so he'll be sidelined for awhile. Tips on foods, drinks, any therapeutic exercises, etc. are welcome.
2007-01-05 04:18:08 · 6 answers · asked by StantheMan 1 in Health ➔ General Health Care ➔ Injuries
I would beg to differ on some of the other answers stating that you can't do anything for rib fractures. Actually there is a lot that you can do, it's just that physicians don't do anything actively to repair the fractures.
Rib fractures will heal on their own in 4-6 weeks after the injury. The mainstay of treatment for rib fractures is pain control. The biggest risk with rib fractures is for collapse of the lung or injury to other organs from protrusion of bony fragements. If this hasn't occurred, then the next biggest risk is development of pneumonia from not breathing deeply enough. This is where pain control comes in. I'm a surgical resident in a level 1 trauma center. Our regimine for rib fracture care is to give narcotic pain medications. We give the patient an incentive spirometer, a device that the patient uses to breathe deeply with and gauge how deeply he or she is breathing. If they are unable to take an adequate deep breath, we place an epidural catheter until the pain is controlled enough to allow deeper breathing. When taking in adequate tidal volumes to prevent atelectasis/pneumonia while on oral pain medicines only, they can usually go home.
Things we DON'T do is wrap the chest or splint the chest wall in any way. This acts to restrict deep breathing and can predispose to pneumonia. Wrapping the chest is 19th century medicine.
2007-01-07 10:20:15 · answer #1 · answered by tiredsurgeon 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Broken ribs are the bane of the impatient.
There is nothing that the doctors do for broken ribs other than wrap the ribcage, and try to protect it from sudden jarring. The absolute best thing your brother can do is to cut it out for a couple of weeks. Eating right is just about the only thing he can do for himself.
Any form of exercise whatsoever is a danger to disturb his ribs. Anything that disturbs his ribs can:
*Cause him pain
*Disturb the ribs, impairing the healing process
*Break them again
*Complicate the broken ribs by making the healed joint messy
If he really loves sports and wants to come back at 100%, he needs to lay off. If he doesn't, he's going to end up like Joe Montana--****** up ribs for years, until they end his career.
2007-01-05 15:00:48 · answer #2 · answered by christophermalachite 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is not much you can do for broken ribs. Just take it easy for a few weeks until they can heal. has he had xrays yet? if not he may just have bruised ribs which hurt really bad, but heal alot sooner. the only suggestion i have is that holding on to a pillow really helps. if he has to cough or even when he is sitting down or getting up, holding a pillow like you are hugging it seems to take pressure off the ribs. I hope he heals soon. good luck
2007-01-05 20:55:42 · answer #3 · answered by mountainorchid 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hi, I am sorry to hear your brother got in an accident. Broken ribs take about 2-4 weeks to heal.
2007-01-05 12:20:39 · answer #4 · answered by mm06840 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
rest moving around a lot will aggravate the injury and they can't cast it like a hand so you have to be extra careful. cottager cheese will also help it is loaded with protein and calcium which will help the injury heal faster.
2007-01-05 12:24:01 · answer #5 · answered by dank2go 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
broken ribs stink - they can't do anything for you
2007-01-05 12:25:39 · answer #6 · answered by erindrozda 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋