Sternum pain after a fall

Breastbone pain that occurs after a fall should be examined with extreme caution. In the case of acute sternum pain occurring after a fall, it is probably not of a muscular nature, but there is a risk of a bone-related cause. In this case, an x-ray should be taken in any case to show whether or not it is a sternum fracture.

The fracture of the sternum can be dangerous under certain circumstances because bone splinters can drill into the vital organs lung and heart and injure them. Smooth, clean fractures without splinters do not require surgery and patients are only asked to take care of themselves. Pain treatment is carried out with commercially available painkillers, such as paracetamol or ibuprofen.

Cooling can also bring relief. In case of bursting fractures, surgery must be considered. In these operations, wire fragments are inserted into the area of the sternum and the sternum is pulled together. Usually the material is left in the bone even after healing.

Breastbone Pain – Heartburn

The combination of heartburn and sternum pain is not at all so rare and some causes can be shown as likely. With the Sodbrennen it comes to flowing back from stomach acid into the esophagus.This can occur either directly after eating or a little later, for example, when lying down. This can be caused either by too much gastric acid or insufficient closure of the stomach entrance (e.g. due to gastric sphincter insufficiency).

The esophagus runs directly behind the sternum. A bubbling up of gastric acid can lead to the described combined symptoms of heartburn and pain behind the breastbone. Although these symptoms or this combination of symptoms make the cause seem obvious, a heart examination should be performed in any case in order not to overlook a causative heart disease.

Therapeutically, so-called proton pump blockers should be used. If the complaints improve as a result, the most likely cause of the sternum pain is heartburn. If heartburn persists for a longer period of time, it can also lead to an inflammation of the oesophagus (esophagitis) with the same symptoms. To be absolutely certain, a mirror examination of the esophagus and stomach should also be performed.