QuestionOkay...so if there is some kind of crack or something...is there really anything they can do about it. And also, should I go back to the urgent care or should I go up o the ER...I am not sure who will look at it again for me accuratly. The urgent care said they didn't know much about sternum injuries because they dont see them often. Thank you so much for your help.
~Angela
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The text above is a follow-up to ...
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I am not sure if you will know the answer to this but...I am a rugby player at Grand Valley State University and in a game a big girl fell butt down onto my chest...kinda like when a little kid is learning how to walk and they fall straight down on their butts. I went to tackle her and we both fell backwards. I went off the field from pain...when breathing and just from moving in general. After going to an urgent care, I was told it was just bruised but that they do not really see a lot of injuries with sternums so they said they would send the x-ray to the hospital and let me know if anything was wrong in a few days...they never called so I assumed it was just a bruise.
Well, this was labor day weekends and it still hurts. Not as much as it used to but it wont hurt for like a week and then as soon as I clean the house or do any kind of exercise or even when I turn the wheel driving in the car...it will hurt. I went out dancing the other night and was in so much pain the next day....so I guess my question is why? Why does it still hurt because it has been forever and if it was just a bruise then it should be healed already. I didn't play rugby the rest of my season so I didn't aggravate by playing...I am taken it pretty easy since it hurt so much in the beginning.I just don't understand why it isn't healed yet...why it still hurts. Sorry this is so long, I just wanted to paint the picture for you a bit. Any help would be amazing...thank you :)
~Angela
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If you still have pain, you may need more of an evaluation than a plain xray, which isn't great to identify bony injuries of the ribs and sternum....Since you still have pain, I would get to your doctor and then consider getting an MRI or CT of this area to see if there was a small crack that went un noticed on the plain xrays.....
Answergood question.... if you have an injury with enough force to break your breast bone (sternum) then you have taken a pretty serious blow... but, you may have dislocated cartilage/ribs from the breastbone... either way, this far out, not much would be done except pain management, over the counter max would be something like alleve, 2 pills twice daily.
