How to Treat a Rib Fracture

Series Summary

It seems like everyone has been in a situation where they had to stay calm and use their heads to solve a problem, crisis or situation either involving themselves or someone else. Things like choking, heat exhaustion,and fever just happen and they happen quickly. Having the knowledge about what to do in those situations is invaluable because it could mean the difference between life and death. Things like CPR and the Heimlick Maneuver are necessary treatments that every man woman and child should know how to do in an instant. Do you know how to do CPR? What if a friend was choking, would you know what to do or just stand there? Joe Bruni is a veteran firefighter and life saver with over 30 years of experience in this field and he is here to show a few easy but important treatments to some of the most common life threatening everyday occurrences that people experience. Learn how to care for nose bleeds, stitches, bandages and many more treatment issues. The Heimlick Maneuver and CRP are just two of the standard treatments that everyone should know how to do and these videos will leave you with self-assurance that when the time comes you will know what to do.

Video Transcript

"Throughout the course of everyday life, we're all going to incur some type of injury. Hi, I'm Captain Joe Bruni. What I want to talk about is how to treat the minor fractured rib. Fractured rib can present itself in sharp pain, especially during the inspiration of breathing. If the person is suspected of having a cracked rib or a fractured rib, pieces of adhesive tape, one to two inches in width should be placed across the fracture area site by taping from the front of the sternum all the way around to the back of the spine, taping across the fracture suspected site, and taping slightly below and slightly above that area. This will help reduce pain and keep that area stable. After the area has been taped off, the person should be encouraged to cough to keep secretions and fluids from accumulating and pooling in the lung. It will be painful, but encourage the person to cough to avoid this secondary problem from occurring. If it's a major fracture site it will have to be treated as a flailed chest by placing some type of device and keeping that person still as they breathe, and keep reducing movement in that flail or damage segment area. I'm Captain Joe Bruni. Stay safe, and we'll see ya' next time."