Suggest Treatment For Soreness On The Left Side Of The Chest Area

Posted on Thu, 27 Apr 2017

Question: I fell on my left side, on my left breast. I'm male age 60 good health. It knock the breath out for about 30 seconds. I'm having trouble laying on that side to sleep. I have hard time doing any lifting with my left side. Soreness when I sneeze. No dizziness, no headache . Just can't do normal things

Answered by Dr. Hari Charan Perigela (38 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
You should get an X-ray chest.

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

Fracture rib has to be excluded by Xray chest. It will give additional information about Air/Blood in the pleural cavity.

Injury to the chest wall sometimes can cause severe pain even without fracture.
Avoid sleeping on the affected side. Avoid things/strenuous activities which aggravate the pain.
You should take pain killers (eg. Tylenol, Ibuprofen etc.).
Chest physiotherapy should be done.
I have managed many cases of chest injury. Fracture ribs don't need bandage/strappings. It requires only pain killers.

Please consult your doctor and proceed further.

Hope I answered your query. If you have any questions, I will clarify further.
Wish you a speedy recovery.
Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Arnab Banerjee

Follow up: Dr. Hari Charan Perigela (53 minutes later)

What about putting a heating pad on the sore area. When I fell my left arm got stretched across my left chest area. I can take deep breathes and and no bad pain only when I move in certain ways. It's does not feel like I have any fluid in my lungs

Answered by Dr. Hari Charan Perigela (6 hours later)

Brief Answer:
You can apply hot fomentation.

Detailed Answer:
Hi
You can apply hot fomentation at the injured area.
Fluid /blood collected after trauma will only be known in X ray/ultrasound of the chest.
Please get it done and exclude bony injury/collection in the pleural cavity.
Wish you speedy recovery.
Regards

Note: For further queries, consult a joint and bone specialist, an Orthopaedic surgeon. Book a Call now.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Yogesh D