New procedure to help ease rib pain

You don’t have to be a top athlete to know the pain of a broken rib. Millions of people have experienced breaking or fracturing a rib or even several ribs.

Most of the time, patients are sent home, told to take it easy and let it heal, but sometimes, the pain doesn’t go away.

Now, there’s a new procedure that can help ease the pain.

Whether it happened during a car crash, a fall or a ball game, a broken or fractured rib can make every breath you take painful.

When those ribs don’t heal or when multiple ribs are broken, rib fixation or plating can help.

Surgeons screw titanium plates along the surface of the broken or cracked ribs.

Rib plating can be done either directly under the skin, with the plate laying on top of the ribs, or from inside the chest cavity, underneath the ribs, depending on the severity of the injury.

“Once you put the plates in, the plates stay in forever,” said Dr. Farshad Farnejad, Critical care surgeon at North Suburban Medical Center.

This procedure can be done immediately after the injury occurs, or even years later.