The aim of this paper is to show a suitable sonographic approach to the chest wall. Section planes and normal sonographic findings are described. Detection of rib fractures by ultrasound is a potential use of ultrasonography. The typical signs are described and a comparison with X-rays is made. Sonography is a valuable technique to picture traumatic lesions of the chest wall. Nevertheless an important restriction is the fact, that not the whole region of the chest wall can be examined. For a first and systematic search of primary tumours or metastases, sonography is not very suitable. Nevertheless, once localised, findings can be observed very well.