3. Swelling of the Fracture Site
If you experience any swelling of your ribs, you can almost automatically assume that it’s a fracture if it has happened after a traumatic event. Ribs aren’t the type of body part that can be sprained, so in the case of severe symptoms, a break can be assumed. Swelling of the ribs after an event means that you should get to the emergency room as soon as possible to have the possible fracture site looked at – not doing this can mean that you make your injury worse, and swelling could easily point to a rib that’s about to poke into an organ.
For the best results, ice the fracture site immediately after the accident or traumatic event has taken place for the swelling to go down in the most natural way. During the healing time, ice packs can also help to cool down the area,, and will last comparatively a lot longer than ice.