

To help manage the pain while the fracture heals:

Pain relief can help you feel better and let you take deeper breaths.Ī broken rib usually takes at least 6 weeks to heal. Home treatment will help you manage the pain while you heal. Most broken ribs are treated at home and will heal on their own over time. So you may be treated as though you have a broken rib even if an X-ray doesn't show any broken bones. But broken ribs don't always show up on X-rays. You may need to have an X-ray or other imaging test if your doctor isn't sure about your symptoms.


If you can't breathe normally you may feel short of breath, anxious, restless, or scared. Or it may cause pain around your breastbone. It can make it hard to take a breath or breathe deeply. What are the symptoms?Ī broken rib may cause pain in the injured area. This is more likely to happen if you have a disease that has made your bones weak, such as osteoporosis or cancer. The most common cause of a broken rib is a direct blow to the chest, often from a car accident or a fall. A break in the thick tissue (cartilage) that connects the ribs to the breastbone may also be called a broken rib, even if the bone itself is not broken. A broken rib (also called a fracture) is a crack or break in one of the bones of the rib cage.
