What can be done to shorten the healing time?
The most important measures to reduce the extent of rib bruising and shorten the healing time must be taken immediately after the injury. Within the first 48 hours, it is worthwhile to apply protection, compression and cooling. With these measures, haematomas and other swellings can develop less and the cooling prevents major bleeding.
The extent of the injury to the bone and periosteum is thus reduced, which also shortens the duration of symptoms and healing.In the following healing phase, little can be done to accelerate the healing process. It is primarily important to take care of the ribs so that the symptoms do not get worse. Conventional painkillers also often have an additional anti-inflammatory effect, which means that local inflammatory reactions in the bone can also be contained and reduced. UV therapies are rarely offered to accelerate healing. However, a benefit has not yet been clearly established.
Prognosis
The prognosis for rib contusion is generally considered very good. In most cases, a rib contusion is completely healed after three to five weeks. However, certain factors can contribute to rib contusion leading to serious complications.
For this reason, if you suspect a rib contusion, it is advisable to have it confirmed by a physician if necessary and to start a suitable therapy. Especially contusions of the ribs, which are caused by a severe cough, have a worse prognosis. Because of the usually persistent cough, the healing time is significantly delayed.
When taking cough-relieving medication, there is a risk of developing pneumonia, which is why these drugs should only be used in certain cases. Finally, individual factors determine the prognosis of the injury. Age in particular plays an important role in the prognosis of rib contusion. The extent of the impaired ribs can also have a strong influence on the duration and prognosis of the injury.
Duration of rib contusion treatment
Treatment for rib contusion is almost always symptomatic and not causal. This means that the actual contusion and the potential injuries to the bone cannot be treated in a targeted manner, but only pain and discomfort can be relieved. Rib bruising does not benefit from causal treatment, so it is necessary to wait until the bone regenerates itself.
Initially, a sports break for a few weeks is recommended. Pain should be relieved with medication or ointments if the pain becomes too severe and even restricts breathing. Taking the pain medication is therefore often the only therapy for rib contusion and must be taken until the symptoms subside and become more bearable.
In the case of a slight rib contusion, the symptomatic treatment can often be discontinued after just one week. Severe rib contusions, which are associated with severe pain, often require several weeks of treatment. Other accompanying medications such as cough relievers, expectorants or sleeping pills, which enable a symptom-free healing phase, must also be taken until the symptoms are bearable even without treatment. On average, it can initially be assumed that treatment will take about 2 weeks. The treatment of a rib contusion can be found with the most important information on this topic at Treatment of a rib contusion
