Medical Questions » Chest Questions » Question No. 196
| Question: | My GP has diagnosed my chest pain after a fall down stairs as a sprung rib, and says it is not serious. What is a sprung rib? |
| Answer: | The ribs do not form a rigid cage around the chest, but are flexible so that you can expand and contract the chest when you breathe. A lot of this flexibility comes from the fact that ribs do not join directly on to the breast bone (sternum), but a strip of cartilage (the costal cartilage) runs from the end of the rib to the side of the breast bone.
Where the costal cartilages join to the bone of the rib or breast bone there is a joint (costo-chondral joint). In a fall, one or more ribs may be pushed in too far, and one or more of these joints may be damaged.
In effect, a sprung rib is a sprain of a costo-chondral joint in the rib cage.
Treatment is primarily time and rest while the damaged joint heals, but antiinflammatory medications and pain-killers can be used to ease the discomfort.
|
|
|
