This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Flail chest

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

The function of the ribs is to provide a framework upon which muscles act to generate breathing movements. Breathing movements result in pressure differences between the environment and the thorax. These pressure differences are resisted by the rib cage.

A direct blow to the chest may result in a localised disruption in the integrity of the rib cage. Most commonly, double fractures of the ribs result in a section of chest wall which cannot resist the pressure gradient generated during breathing.

The result is "paradoxical respiration":

  • the flail segment is drawn in during inspiration
  • the flail segment is pushed out during expiration

The loss of tidal volume may precipitate respiratory failure.


Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation, such as a web address or phone number. This information will always be displayed when you visit this page