The sternum, or chest bone, can be injured in many ways. Car accidents can easily lead to a broken car if drivers who are not wearing seat belts are hit by the steering wheel. Athletes who train regularly and vigorously can twist their upper abdomen, causing an injury to the sternum. Falls during exercise and laughter can cause trauma and fracture a bone.
In January 2012 I fell while skiing in France and ended up in the hospital in the emergency with a severe pain injury to the sternum. That was done. While passing through Queyras, I was very impressed by the beautiful natural park in the Province of the Alps. . I bruised my ribs on the left side and also the upper bust. For a while I thought I had broken a rib, but I broke a rib once in my youth and realized that this pain time is not so acute. I could breathe deeply without the pain getting worse. And so, more certain that no bones were broken, we drifted off in the afternoon, and I’m sure I got a good night’s sleep. The next day I had pain around the edge of my ribs and under my arm but it was tolerable and I did a little skil that day. I felt that the pain of my life, no where to turn it, would fall.
A few days later, however, I was awakened at night by a pain in the middle of my chest. It was so intense that I thought I was having a heart attack. I tried to calm down and objectively evaluate my symptoms. I don’t sweat. I had no palpitations. I didn’t have pain in my back, moving to my shoulder or jaw. I don’t feel bad. Not having belching or difficulty swallowing. I found that if I sat and leaned over, the pain lessened. I had no signs of rawness and I had not been drinking alcohol nor had I eaten a heavy meal.
Taking those things together, I thought that I was probably not suffering from a heart attack or a hiatal hernia. What were the other possibilities? Someone was crying. But then pain would be mostly constant and not “positional”. I was able to relieve the pain by changing my position.
The most likely cause was a broken or injured sternum like from my fall the day before. Chest wounds in severe cases can injure or penetrate the lung. I spent a very uncomfortable and sleepless night sitting and lying down.
The next day I went to see my doctor and after a thorough examination he sent me straight to the radiographer for X-rays. “Either you have an injured or broken end of your sternum,” he said, “or you’ve injured the cartilage there in the middle of your chest.”
He explained that there is generally no cure for a broken sternum except medicine and rest. Time will heal the mouth itself. If the fracture is complex, however, skill is needed.
The radiographer took three X-rays and sent them to the consultant. He showed me that there was no fracture, but he performed a manual examination and pressing on the extremity of the sternum I was overcome with pain. The diagnosis was that I hurt my sternum when I fell, skiing, and the injury was probably aggravated by continuing to slide in the following days.
The consultant told me that sternum injuries can take many weeks heal and pain to heal. He wrote me a prescription for a mixture of paracetamol, caffeine and opium. (Poudre d’opium, as this is France.) “With a narcotic,” he said, “so that the pain at night will be severe for many more nights.” He also gave me an anxiety gel to rub on my chest at the most painful point, at the very tip of the sternum.
He told me to move and breathe as often as possible, but not to lift anything heavy for at least three weeks. “The sternum is easily injured,” he says, “and it takes time to heal. Stress and strain lifting some heavy weight can put your recovery on hold right to square one.
He told me that a combination of narcotic analgesics, rest, normal but gentle movement, therapeutic sleep and time would allow my sternum to heal naturally. As I got ready to leave he asked, “How was the skiing anyway?”
“Great,” I said. “Wonderful pistes. Plenty of snow. Warm sun and blue air.”
“Will the sternum injury cause you to ski again?” he asked.
“No,” I said. “It doesn’t put me off skiing. But it sure does take off.”
“The sternum is easily injured,” he said. “People tend to think that if they fall they hurt or break a leg or an arm, or maybe an ankle, a rib or a collar bone. Once people know how painful sternum injuries are, they are likely to hang around a bit. More attention is paid to the bone that has the most important anatomical function even though it is hardly they think
At least he is with me now. I never gave my sternum a moment’s thought, but a simple accident taught me not only how important it is, but how painful an injury can be. Fortunately in the case the prognosis was for a full recovery, with the help of a pharmacist, rest and time.
