Duration of medication for rib contusion
In the case of rib contusion, drugs are only used to control and alleviate the symptoms so that the healing time can be bridged without pain. Primarily pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory drugs are used, but cough-relieving and expectorant drugs can also reduce the symptoms. With these symptomatic medicines, the basic principle in medicine is “as much as necessary, as little as possible”. This means that the pain should be reduced on the one hand so that breathing and movement are possible without restriction, but on the other hand the drugs should also be taken with caution and be reduced early if there are no symptoms. As a rule, the medication needs to be taken for about 2 weeks; in the case of severe rib bruises, this period may be extended to 6 weeks.
Duration of rib contusion depending on the cause
Depending on the cause responsible for the rib contusion, the time required for complete healing may vary. In general, a distinction must be made between two types. For example, rib contusion can occur due to an external force or it can be caused by overstraining the ribs by a severe cough.Typically, a rib contusion caused by an external force on the body heals faster than a rib contusion caused by a severe cough.
This is due to the fact that the cough is usually still present after the rib contusion and has an unfavorable effect on the healing of the contusion. External forces can cause a contusion of the ribs as well as of the back. To learn more about this, we recommend that you also take a look at the following article: Back bruise after a fall
Duration of rib contusion depending on the diagnosis
A rib contusion should be diagnosed as soon as possible so that an individually tailored therapy can be started. The healing of a rib contusion diagnosed at a late stage can take a significantly longer time if the affected rib is not spared.
