Understand a little How is rib fracture diagnosed?

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Rib fracture is generally caused by trauma. Rib is the organ that protects our body. If there is no rib, our organs will be exposed, but rib is easy to fracture. Let's talk about the diagnosis of rib fracture.

Understand a little How is rib fracture diagnosed?

First, fractures can occur in one or more ribs, each rib is generally only one broken, there are also a few ribs before and after two broken, known as double fractures. In the case of multiple double fractures, the thorax loses its support. Therefore, when breathing in, it will sag inward due to the increase of negative pressure in the thorax; when breathing out, it will protrude outward due to the decrease of negative pressure in the thorax, which is an abnormal respiratory activity.

Second: when the fracture end or foreign body pierces the pleura, the air enters the pleura cavity, which can form pneumothorax; if the blood vessels of the lung and chest wall are pierced, the blood flows into the chest, which can form hemothorax. It is very dangerous to have hemothorax. It will lead to respiratory obstruction and eventually suffocation. We must pay attention to this.

Third: secondly, rib fracture has obvious trauma history, local pain, obvious tenderness, swelling or ecchymosis, deep breathing and speaking. The pain increases when you cough. When you turn over or sit up in bed, you can feel bone rubbing. Multiple ribs with double fractures, local anti plaster breathing may occur. The rib is located under the skin, and the whole length can be touched by hand. It is easy to measure the tenderness, swelling or deformity of the fracture.

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Finally, rib fracture without displacement should be differentiated from chest contusion. The former has obvious indirect tenderness, that is, squeezing the chest before and after the tenderness point (the two hands can also be placed on the sternum and spine respectively) can aggravate the original tenderness point, while the latter has only direct tenderness. X-ray film does not show, the diagnosis mainly depends on the history and clinical signs, especially the correct and detailed determination of indirect tenderness. After 2-3 weeks, the fracture line was visible only when the fracture end was partially absorbed and a small amount of callus was formed.