Question
I was in a pretty bad car accident, I suffered a broken leg, I broke my top left rib due to the seatbelt impact, and collapsed right lung. They had to insert a chest tube to re-inflate my lung. A few days after I was released from the hospital, I sneezed, and I felt and heard popping through my sternum, and since have been experiencing bad pain on the right side of my ribs, I know exactly which rib it is coming from and it feels like that rib has popped out of place. When I run my fingers across the area that particular rib seems to be popping out further then the rest, and when I press on that rib I feel pain all the way around to my back. It has been 4 weeks since the accident and all other pain has gone away, except for the pain in the rib I believe to be dislocated. Is it possible that my sneeze caused me to dislocate my rib? And if so, could the fact that I've left it alone for this long have caused further damage?
Thank you so much for your help.

Answer
Hi Matthew,

I sympathize.  Had quite a few rib troubles myself over the years.

Chances are that you have aggravated the original injury.  This causes inflammation and a lot of chronic aggravation.  The longer you let it sit, the more chronic it may become.

Chiropractic doctors work on these joints.  The area in question is a difficult one to get to for treatment.  But we can help quite a bit.

I hesitate to suggest much home treatment until you get a good evaluation.

The site below is a good way to find a local doc.

Hope this helps.