Fact on Chest Injuries
![Chest pain](https://images.medicinenet.com/images/Article/main_image/chest-pain-heart-attack-man-pain-doctor-hands.jpg?output-quality=75)
What Are the Symptoms of Chest Injury?
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.
What Is the Treatment for Chest Injuries?
- 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.
Health Solutions From Our Sponsors
From ![WebMD Logo](https://images.medicinenet.com/images/promo/logo_webmd.gif)
Healthy Resources
Featured Centers
Health Solutions From Our Sponsors
References
Medically reviewed by John A. Daller, MD; American Board of Surgery with subspecialty certification in surgical critical care
"Initial evaluation and management of chest wall trauma in adults"
UpToDate.com
"Initial evaluation and management of chest wall trauma in adults"
UpToDate.com