Home Remedies For Broken Rib

For obvious reasons those who fall and sustain a broken rib find breathing, and particularly coughing, very painful, as movement of the rib irritates the nerve fibers around the fracture. As with all fractures this can take up to six weeks to resolve and can be complicated by lung infections as pain on coughing makes it difficult to expectorate retained secretions.
Virtually everyone who breaks a rib will end up in casualty where, after an X-ray has been taken to ensure there are not associated injuries such as a collapsed lung, it is customary to send the patient on their way with some painkillers and advice that as the rib heals the pain will diminish.

At one time it was customary to strap the rib with adhesive tape, though this fell out of fashion. Nonetheless, strapping certainly does relieve the pain as Dr K. Norcross of Birmingham's Dudley Road Hospital observes. He analyzed the records from the casualty department at Manchester Royal Infirmary before rib strapping fell out of favor. In 44 cases, 27 were relieved of pain by strapping, in four it was made worse and 13 gained no relief. Clearly for most patients strapping is effective in the relief of pain — if it is not it can be removed immediately.' He describes the case of one woman he treated: 'She told me she had severe pain from a fracture of the eighth rib and that before strap¬ping was applied every breath had been very painful and she could not cough at all. Within an hour of strapping she was virtually pain-free, could breathe readily and cough and clear her chest. She was most grateful for the help that had been provided/ Dr Norcross describes the technique as follows: 'To be effective strapping must splint the chest on the affected side so it must be applied under moderate tension to the chest i n full expiration. The strapping should cross the mid-line to the nipple in front and scapula at the back. In hairy men, shaving of the chest is needed first. The strapping must be inextensible (i.e. two inch zinc oxide strapping).'