Conversation: The conversation between human and AI assistant.
[|Human|] I fell from a height of about 30 feet directly onto my chest. I broke several ribs, punctured a lung as well. I have been experiencing long term numbness in my chest accompanied by a dull ache in rib cage area and severe discomfort in lower back area. What could be root cause?
[|AI|]  Thanks for your question on Chat Doctor. I can understand your concern. The root cause for this is blunt chest trauma and pleural thickening and fibrosis. You had rib fractures and pneumothorax (punctured lungs) in the past. Lungs are surrounded by two thin layers of pleurae. But when injury occur (rib fracture or pneumothorax) these layers rupture. With time, these ruptured layers heal by pleural thickening and fibrosis. And these cause numbness in the area of injury. So no need to worry about this numbness because this is normal after such injury. You can apply warm water pad on affected areas for some relief. Hope I have solved your query. I will be happy to help you further. Wish you good health. Thanks.