Chest Wall Injury

This leaflet aims to support verbal information given to you from the treating nurse practitioner or doctor.

What is a chest wall injury? 

Chest wall injury usually occurs following direct trauma e.g. fall, collision playing sports 

etc. 

This can cause the following injuries: 

• Simple rib fractures are the most common injury 

• Sprained intercostal muscles (between ribs) 

• Chest wall bruising. 

• Muscular sprains. 

Why is it painful? 

The chest wall is constantly moving (during breathing and physically moving around), this causes the injured part to move which is very sensitive. 

Movements which will be troublesome but are vital to promote healing include: 

• Taking a deep breath/coughing/laughing. 

• Bending over/turning around. 

Chest wall injuries often take weeks to get better. As a guide, a patient with one broken rib can expect pain for 3 weeks and to be in discomfort for several weeks. This period is more if more than 1 rib is involved. 

What is the treatment? 

There is no specific treatment for a broken rib and often a chest x-ray is not necessary unless the doctor is suspicious of an underlying lung injury. 

The main complication is how the rib injury affects your breathing. Pain from the injury can cause respiratory splinting (where you do not breathe as deeply as normal) and build-up of respiratory secretions which can lead to a chest infection developing. This risk is much higher is you are a smoker or have underlying lung disease. 

WHEN TO RETURN TO THE VICTORIA A&E DEPT 

1. You become suddenly short of breath 

2. Your sputum becomes discoloured or more productive. 

3. You develop a fever and are unwell 

4. You cough up blood. 

To Prevent Infection 

• DO regular deep breathing exercises - e.g. take 10 very deep breaths every hour. 

• If you feel the need to cough, DO NOT try to suppress it as it is important to clear the secretions. 

• If you support your chest with a pillow when coughing this should relieve some of the pain. 

• DO take regular painkillers e.g. paracetamol and ibuprofen. Do not take additional paracetamol if you are already taking medication which contains paracetamol. Do not take ibuprofen if you are asthmatic or have stomach problems. If in doubt, ask your pharmacist. It is important to take regular painkillers and not wait for pain to develop. 

• DO NOT take cough medicine. Aim to alternate periods of rest with gentle activity over the next few weeks - keeping mobile will assist in the drainage of normal lung secretions and help to prevent infection. 

• DO NOT try to lift things as you will further injure yourself. 

• DO NOT stay in bed - it is important to keep mobile. 

• DO NOT strap or bind your chest as this will prevent you clearing secretions and taking deep breaths and will lead to chest infections