Why are broken ribs so painful?

Question

Is there a way to feel more comfortable? What should I do to help them heal? I fell on a tree during the ice storm three weeks ago and broke 3 ribs.

Answer 1

Unfortunately,there is almost nothing you can do about broken ribs except control the pain until the fractures heal. Broken ribs are a common injury, usually caused by trauma to the chest, like falling onto trees in an ice storm.

Of course you have seen a doctor, haven't you? Broken ribs can be dangerous and puncture lungs, etc etc.

The most important thing to do is take it easy and rest often. No strenuous exertion! As you know by now, deep breathing just plain hurts. As your pain decreases you may start moving about a bit more actively. Take great care to protect those ribs.

To prevent pneumonia, every hour take ten deep breaths. If you can manage this at night, do it. I remember when mine were cracked after surgery; I found clutching a pillow during those deep breaths and in case I coughed gave me a feeling of protection and was a wonderful comfort, physically. If you have a large stuffed toy, that works too. My big teddy bear was my best friend at that time!

You can use heat to lessen swelling. Set the heater to low or use a hot water bottle. No more than 15 to 20 minutes per hour. And never go to sleep with them on.

Pain medications may help relieve discomfort. Doctors typically don't recommend compression wraps for broken ribs unless absolutely necessary for pain. This is because compression wraps can keep you from taking deep breaths, which can increase the risk of lung infections. It takes about two months before healing is complete.

Why does it hurt so much?

All of your ribs attach to your spine, but only the top seven pairs connect to your sternum (breast bone). These are called 'true ribs' and are connected by strips of cartilage. The next three pairs of ribs are known as 'false ribs'. Instead of attaching directly to your sternum, they all attach to your lowest true rib. The last two pairs of ribs are called 'floating ribs'. These only attach to your spine.

Your ribs form a protective cage that protects your internal organs, such as your heart and lungs. Rib bones are quite fragile and can be easily broken in an accident or even by a violent sneeze.

With every inhalation, the muscles between your ribs, called the intercostals, lift your ribcage helping your lungs to expand. When you exhale, your ribcage moves down, squeezing air out of your lungs.

Remember you will heal just fine. Take this time to catch up on your reading!

Answer 2

Ouch that hurts!!! I just had heart surgery and they split my chest bone open to get to my heart. I finally have first hand knowledge about pain from broken bones in the chest. I have been telling people for years that their rib fracture will continue to hurt for weeks (about 10 weeks usually) mainly because the ribs are in constant motion as you breath/ They are either expanding or retracting as the breathing process takes place, that means that the fractured ends of the rib bones are also in rather constant motion. This continues as your body is slowly developing a boney callus or "bubble" over the rib fracture site. Eventually this callus will stabilize the fracture and the pain will subside. You may be even able to feel this callus on each rib if your not as overweight as I am. Long after the outside of the bone is healed from this process, then the inside of the bone eventually heals too, and this callus will be absorbed into the boney stucture of the rib. This may take some years however. We used to compress the ribs over a fracture with rib belts, but this prevented deep breathing as it hurts, and may even help surpress coughing or sneezeing which is terribly painful with a rib fracture. When this is done it is only a matter of time where your shallow breathing only leads to lung atelectasis, which means that there are portions of the lung not well areated and consequently it there is a build up of phlem in that area of the lung it is only an invitation to a lung infection. Pneumonia is a deadly complication in many restricted medical scenarios, which can eventually lead to full blown septic pneumonia and even death. Try to keep this in mind and yawn deeply although slowly as you slowly recuperate and return to full function, the more you tolerate the pain and work out your lungs so that you will always come out of this without any fear of the pain of moving and breathing will allow you to survive this ordeal with the least possible problems.

Answer 3

Because your ribs move every time you breathe and you have to breathe is the main reason in my opinion.

Be sure to take deep breaths several times a day to keep your lungs clear. (unless otherwise told not to by Dr.) Last thing you need is to catch a cough now with painful ribs.

You can apply heat such as a heating pad or warm, moist towels to help the pain.
You can also take over the counter pain meds as long as you aren't taking other pain meds your Dr prescribed.
Try your best not to bump your ribs around. I know that is going to be hard to do though.
That is about all I can think of besides propping yourself up with nice fluffy pillows. Hope you get to feeling better soon.

Answer 4

I think is more simple than that Your body have a lot of conections inside to detect whats wrong with your body, if you get a little pinch on your skin you´ll feel a little pain and it will go away real quick, but if you get injured INSIDE the pain Have to be more strong and it will last longer, mean while your body try to pin point what's wrong and try to fix it the nerves are the ones who says to your brain that something is wrong, most nerves connect to the central nervous system through the spinal cord. The twelve cranial nerves, however, connect directly to parts of the brain.
Hope it will help in your pain to know :p

Answer 5

You should be wearing a binder to help support the ribs and allow them to heal properly. The support may make it a bit harder to take deep breaths but it is the best for broken ribs.

Answer 6

It isn't possible to rest the ribs while they heal. If you could put a cast on them and stop breathing, they would heal quicker and without as much pain.

Answer 7

Ask the doctor. Broken Ribs aren't supposed to feel pleasant. Change your laying position. You won't feel better until possibly 5 more weeks.. at least. Hope you feel better.

Answer 8

Everytime you breath your lungs move your broken ribs making it painful.

Answer 9

Because your ribs support muscles and different organs in your body, like an elastic shell.

Answer 10

Because they're broken and they're supposed to encase your organs. Meaning, you might have a hard time breathing.