Possible rib injury

You don't say how many ribs are affected, whether the problem is at the end of the rib(s) or toward the middle, whether the deformity is a bump or a dip, or whether there is bruising?

Ribs can be cracked, broken or dislocated. 

My cracked ribs healed by themselves.  They were so painful, it was hard to move in the beginning, felt better after about three weeks and were pretty much healed after six weeks.

I have never had a broken rib, but I understand that unless you are lucky they can damage the organs they protect when they are not broken. 

A broken rib whose broken ends move against each other has to be stabilized in order to heal.

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's the very bottom on the left side I would say 2 or 3 ribs are affected but I can't tell for sure. And I've had this deformity for awhile but the other day I was coughing really hard (my asthma has been bad due to allergies) and something popped and now it hurts into my back and it pops all the time and the pain has gotten worse over the last 2 days

What is clear is that this is getting worse, not better. No matter whether it is a cracked or broken rib or something else, the ribs protect our inner organs and these are probably not doing their job.

If I were you, I would see a doctor ASAP: you need to get out of pain, get relief from worrying about what might be going on, and protect your stomach, spleen, kidney and whatever else is under those ribs.

This time tomorrow you could be out of pain and on your way to healing. Good luck with it.

We have a 17 years old who just got hit in the ribs. What do you think we need to check out, look at, what type of questions to ask him to decide if we should take him to ER?