Chest Injuries

A chest injury or trauma is any injury to the ribs, heart, or lungs and can occur as the result of accidental or deliberate penetration of a foreign object into the chest.

• A chest injury can occur as the result of accidental or deliberate penetration of a foreign object into the chest.
• This type of injury can also result from blunt trauma, leading to chest wall injury which causes:
  • rib bruises,
  • fracture,
  • lung or heart contusions.

Symptoms of chest injury include:

• Difficulty breathing,
• failure of the chest to expand normally,
• crunching sounds in the ribs,
• bruising, and
• coughing up blood indicates a chest injury.
• One segment of the chest wall may not move with breathing or move opposite to the rest of the chest wall (flail chest).
• Even without an obvious external injury, a significant internal injury can occur.

• An object that remains in the chest injury should not be removed.
• An airtight dressing such as tin foil or a plastic sack should be used as quickly as possible to cover any hole that extends into the chest cavity.
• The injured person should be positioned with the injured side down.
• The injured person should be given pure oxygen to breathe.
• The neck and back of the injured person should be immobilized after a possible chest injury.
• CPR may be necessary.

A person with a chest injury should seek medical treatment as soon as possible.