Causes of rib fractures The occurrence of rib fractures in the elderly often occurs at the moment of moving from sitting to standing up, especially from the toilet. This action, which is simple for young people, involves several systems. The first is the flexibility of the joints and muscles, older people have more or less joint problems; then there is the vestibular function, that is, the balance function; and there is the cardiovascular system, dizziness after standing up after sitting for a long time may be experienced by all of us, which is the performance of the cardiovascular system to compensate for the poor position change. These functions are degraded in the elderly, not to mention the combination of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disorders in the elderly. Then again, the bones of the elderly have lost their hardness and toughness with age, that is, osteoporosis, which can cause fractures with little violence. If there is water on the floor of the bathroom, or slippery soles of the elderly, it is more likely to fall. At the same time, constipation lengthens the time for the elderly to squat on the toilet. In summary, from a preventive point of view, the elderly still need to maintain a certain amount of activity to keep their bodies active as much as their abilities allow. However, it is more important to improve the external environment by installing anti-slip mats in the bathroom, handrails on the side of the toilet bed, improving the lighting, applying four-retired crutches reasonably, wearing comfortable shoes with anti-slip function, and keeping the bowel movement smooth. After a fall, seek medical attention. Rib fractures often occur in the “quarter rib area”, which is the junction of the chest and abdomen. While paying attention to chest injuries, it is important to pay attention to abdominal organs, especially the liver and spleen. The main risk of rib fractures is the hemopneumothorax caused by the ribs piercing the lungs and blood vessels, but there are not many elderly people who have a rib fracture combined with a serious hemopneumothorax; the other important aspect is the risk caused by pain, which has become a more important issue in recent years. The stress caused by pain can cause an increase in heart rate, blood pressure and blood sugar, which is extremely harmful to the elderly, especially those with hypertension, diabetes and other underlying diseases; in addition, pain makes the elderly afraid to breathe deeply and cough, which can cause the accumulation of phlegm and even pneumonia, especially for those who smoke all the time, and pneumonia is one of the important causes of death in the elderly; furthermore, pain is The elderly are often bedridden according to move, easy to form lower limb blood clots, eating, urination and defecation will be affected, if the elderly basic physical condition is not good, the harm can be imagined. In terms of treatment, the best solution to pain is internal rib fixation, which surgically connects the broken ends of the ribs with titanium rib jaws, minimizing the pain caused by friction of the bony broken ends. Neither oral or intravenous pain medications, nor intravenous analgesic pumps or paravertebral nerve blocks are basically as good as surgical pain relief, based on initial clinical observations. Meanwhile, surgery can solve the problem of hemopneumothorax. However, surgery is a risky operation after all, especially for the elderly who have many comorbidities and the risk is relatively greater. Not all elderly people are eligible for surgery, and not all families have the ability to bear the risk. For conservative purposes, pain relief, sputum relief, prevention of lung infection, reluctant immobilization with a “rib band”, and physical mobility in bed are also critical. The core purpose of conservative management is essentially the same as surgical management, which is to reduce pain and prevent complications from the fracture. With advances in surgical anesthesia and internal fixation techniques for rib fractures, perioperative risks have been reduced and surgery has become more aggressive than in the past, and its results have been clinically proven. It is advisable to perform the surgery early in the fracture, that is when the pain is most pronounced, and to block it in time before it causes a vicious cycle. The reduction of pain and the timely grounding of the elderly reduces the occurrence of pain-related complications of rib fractures and likewise reduces the difficulty of care for the family. As we enter an aging society, the proportion of older adults is gradually increasing. While acknowledging the fact that the health of the elderly is improving and still contributes continuously to the social family, we have to face the following facts: as they age, all systems of the elderly tend to degenerate and they are more prone to injury and less likely to recover compared to younger people.