Stress fractures occur when bone cannot withstand the accumulated physical stress of a particular activity.
The most common symptom of a rib stress fracture is gradually increasing pain directly over the injury.
A rib fracture typically causes pain that is focal (not widespread).
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The pain may be worse with exertion, deep breathing (pleuritic pain), or coughing.
The symptoms of a rib stress fracture can be confused with symptoms of other ribcage conditions.
How Is a Rib Fracture Diagnosed?
Diagnosis of a rib stress fracture can be difficult to confirm with a regular X-ray.
Even when there are severe rib fractures, X-rays often don’t show the injury.
Other tests can confirm the diagnosis.
The two tests most often used to assess rib fractures arebone scansorMRIs.
Every athlete wants to know how long the injury will take to heal.
Often athletes can stay active with sports and exercises that don’t aggravate the healing stress fracture.
The best approach is not to shortcut the healing process.
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