My mother has osteoporosis and fell on June ninetenth of this year. She fell forward into the seat of her walker. This caused a shoulder/chest injury. She is still dealing with alot of pain. She has had xrays, ct scans, ect and they couldnt find anything except for a few spot on her lungs. When lying flat, you can run your hand along the rib cage on top of the right breast area and there is a hard area that protrudes outward. It almost feels to me like a broken rib. I have read about ribs and so forth, but if it is indeed fractured, why not show up on xray or ct? She is in so much pain that I can hardly stand hearing her suffer. She takes hydrocodone and an occational motrin 800 mg to relieve the pain temporarily. She cannot lay on her right side for the pain and it is painful to get in and out of bed. I can imagine a blunt force trauma like falling hard against her walker seat would cause bruising and so forth, but could this indeed be a fractured rib? Any one out here been through this type of injury?
Already a member? Sign in
Welcome to Inspire!
What - Inspire is a place where you can connect with people who share your health concerns and find information and advice in groups sponsored by organizations you know and trust.
Why - As a member you can use Inspire to let friends and family know how you're doing, contact others who share your health concerns, receive personalized updates and information about participating in surveys and clinical trials, and more.
How - Joining Inspire is completely free and usually takes less than a minute. Join now!
What could be the problem?
- By suzsezok
- Posted July 5, 2008 at 12:38 am · 2 replies
- In Pain relief
- Shared with the public
Explore topics in this discussion:
2 replies
- Oldest first
- Newest first
- By mj2
- Posted July 5, 2008 at 8:03 am
- Report post
Some fractures are not seen on x-rays, it depends on the quality of the exam and if they did a rib series or a chest x-ray. A rib series focuses on bone detail and not lung tissue. A rib series also includes an angled shot (the patient turns about 45 degrees from the imaging plate). The angled shot is for the ribs along the side. A separated rib from the anterior cartilage will be just as painful as a fracture. I have had two separated ribs and one fractured rib. They all felt the same and all took about 6 weeks to heal. Did a radiologist read out the x-ray report, or did your Dr.? Not all physicians are trained to read x-rays. Her symptoms are identcal to mine, so she could have injured a rib. They really do nothing for an injured rib though. I have been an x-ray technologist for over 35 years, that is why I posted my 2 cents. I am so sorry for her pain, and for your frustration.
Add to the discussion