Various Possible Causes of Chest Injury and How to Overcome It

The breast bone or sternum is a bone that is in the middle of the chest and serves to protect important organs in the chest cavity, namely the heart and lungs. However, like other bones in the body, the sternum can be injured, until it cracks or breaks. Injury to the sternum can cause pain when breathing, especially when breathing deeply, coughing, or laughing. Besides making it uncomfortable, this complaint can also hamper daily activities. In order for recovery to take place properly and quickly, chest bone injuries need to be treated in the right way.

Understanding the Causes of Chest Injury

Although motor vehicle accidents are the most common cause of chest bone injuries, there are also a number of other causes that you need to know about. Chest bone injuries can occur when someone falls from a height, or have an accident while doing high-impact sports. Not only that, chest bone injuries can also be experienced as a complication of artificial respiratory assistance or cardiac pulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Chest bone injuries are more prone to occur in people who are elderly, postmenopausal women, sufferers of osteoporosis, and people who take steroid drugs in the long run.

How to Overcome Chest Injury

A chest bone injury will generally recover within a few weeks. However, the recovery period can be longer if the injury suffered is severe enough. For example, when the breastbone is broken, so it requires bed rest, splinting, or surgery. During the recovery period, the following things you can do to reduce pain and reduce the risk of chest infection:

• From time to time, take a deep breath slowly and regularly.
• Do not hold cough or take cough medicine, so that phlegm does not accumulate in the lungs.
• Hold the chest when coughing to reduce pain.
• Limit the extent of movement and avoid strenuous activities.
• Apply a cold compress to the area of ​​the injured breastbone to reduce pain.
• Take pain medication as directed by your doctor.

A chest bone injury generally requires hospitalization, so the doctor can monitor your condition. After being rated as safe, you are only allowed to go home. Even so, you need to return to the doctor immediately if you experience shortness of breath, fever, palpitations, or coughing with phlegm yellow, green, or blood stained. Likewise, if the pain does not go away after eight weeks. This is to anticipate the occurrence of dangerous complications.