If you escape a serious car crash with your only injuries being a few broken ribs, you might understandably consider yourself fortunate. These are among the more common crash injuries – even when airbags deploy. The force of those, as well as that of a seatbelt in a high-speed or particularly violent crash, can break or at least bruise some ribs.
Often, broken ribs – while very painful – heal largely on their own. For older people, however, one or more broken ribs can cause potentially serious complications. They’re also more likely to occur in the first place, along with other fractures, due to the loss of bone density that people experience as they get older. That’s true for both men and women.
Broken ribs and respiratory complications
Researchers who have studied this have found that the risk of death increases with the number of ribs that are broken. However, as one doctor noted, when an elderly person suffers even one broken rib, that can be as dangerous as a middle-aged person suffering eight broken ribs.
A leading danger of broken ribs is that they can cause serious respiratory complications, including pneumonia. Older people are more likely to have these complications because they often have an already reduced lung capacity as well as weaker muscles. They’re also more likely to already be suffering from other respiratory conditions, like COPD.
Obviously, not everyone ages the same. Many people in their 80s are healthier and stronger than other people decades younger. Nonetheless, aging always brings changes in a person’s physiology.
These things, along with their generally increased frailty, can exacerbate the build-up of lung secretions caused by stifling coughs, not taking deep breaths and other things that can be very painful with a broken rib.
All of this is why it’s especially critical for older people to get early medical evaluation and treatment after a vehicle crash or other accident, like a fall, if they believe they’ve broken a rib.
It’s important for everyone to know what kind of injuries and treatment plan they’re dealing with before agreeing to a settlement with an at-fault driver’s insurer. That’s even more true for seniors. Getting legal guidance as early as possible can help injured people ensure that they get the compensation they need for medical bills and other expenses and damages.
