You witness an accident. Debris falls off a speeding truck, a bicyclist quickly swerves to avoid it, but falls in the road from the sudden movement. As you approach the bicyclist, he is holding is chest and his breathing sounds shallow as if it painful to breath. What signals of injury does the bicyclist have?

The bicyclist has signs of Broken Ribs, It could also be damage to the lungs and/or heart, but one of the most common injuries to the chest is fractured ribs. Symptoms of broken ribs are extreme pain when breathing in tenderness to the chest or back over the ribs, a ‘crunchy’ feeling under the skin and severe shortness of breath the bicyclist has most of these these symptoms so It is most likely to be fractured, or broken, ribs. Treatment to broken ribs will depend on the cause of the injury and how serious it is. The medical team will support breathing and circulation if necessary. You may be given oxygen and intravenous fluids or blood transfusions. If you have a severe chest injury, you will be admitted to the hospital. Yes, a fractured rib will heal on its own, but it takes time. If you have a fractured rib, you may be asked to breathe deeply regularly to keep the air sacs in the lung open and prevent pneumonia, a type of chest infection.

I am a doctor in L.A and I get broken ribbed patient's all the time. I hope this helps and if you need any more information on Rib fraction please comment and let me know.