Viewing 26 posts - 1 through 26 (of 26 total)
  • Broken rib – how long off the bike?
  • scott_mcavennie2
    Free Member

    Took my eldest on a rugby trip to Portugal last week. Unfortunately one of the Dads that came along is a massively immature, “Look at me” type, dangerously combined with being a 19 stone martial arts instructor. He took the opportunity to exert his alpha male status during a light under 11’s coaching session to go full pelt into me off the ball and break one of my ribs. Apparently he had “fully committed” just before I passed the ball to a 10 year old 😡

    Anyway, I digress. How long is the standard off the bike with this? I’d been on the road bike throughout the winter, with the full intention of making the most of the spring and early summer. Just tried riding down the road and back and it bloody hurt. Can manage a stationary bike to maintain some level of fitness but in all honesty its boring and I hate gyms.

    Kind of resigned to not getting the mtb out for a while, but not riding on a day like today is a killer.

    gallowayboy
    Full Member

    Some folk just cant have a friendly wee kick about can they?
    Last spring I gave my ribs a big dunt – don’t know if they were broken, popped or just badly bruised, but it hurt like hell for two months; lying down, standing up, moving, driving….After about ten weeks I went to Dalby forest, felt OK, then first little drop and turn and the pain was back, I couldn’t control the bike, fell off again, another six weeks of pain. I’m sure it varies from person to person, age (i’m 53), actual injury etc., but I reckon I should have been off the mtb for at least 3 months. Road biking would obvs be easier, but if you hit a pothole, or have to take evasive action you may find you cant react as well as you could / should until its REALLY mended.
    Good luck – For gods sake dont get a cold or vomiting bug!

    scott_mcavennie2
    Free Member

    Yeah, funnily enough the pain had started to subside. Then I sneezed…

    windyg
    Free Member

    Broke my ribs a few times now, normally 4 to 6 weeks, road bike after 2 is fine.
    Not worth getting off road too early if you crash it will be potentially really serious.

    andyl
    Free Member

    6 weeks along as you stop sneezing I would guess from when when I did mine (self inflicted, new mountain bike encouraged me to go down a very steep bit).

    Make sure you don’t shallow breathe as then you can get pneumonia or something.

    Possibly try a recumbent bike at the gym if they have any but in all honesty don’t try and rush it or you will just delay it.

    curto80
    Free Member

    Broke my rib batting last August on a highly suspect cricket pitch (the following ball would have broken my nose if I hadn’t ducked).

    I was ok on the bike after a couple of weeks just spinning and keeping the heart rate as low as possible.

    Running however was a different story, lost at least six weeks.

    Ribs take a long time to heal so take it easy. It was six months before I stopped feeling it, especially waking up in the morning.

    colournoise
    Full Member

    Did mine a couple of years ago when I rode The Corkscrew on my face during a FoD mini enduro (not sure whether bruised, cracked or broken – GP just had a chat then told me to stay completely immobile for 3 days). Rode the final 2 stages and drove home on adrenaline but then couldn’t get out of bed the next morning.

    Agony doing anything involving moving for about a week.

    Was off the bike for about 7 weeks in total IIRC. I had a bad habit of coming back after getting hurt too soon usually so took my time with that one.

    takisawa2
    Full Member

    Many years ago I came off on the Friday night & rode the MBR at Coedy the next day,

    It hurt.

    carbonfiend
    Free Member

    Only thing I can add to what already mentioned is beware of getting an infection. I broke mine by coming off bike and elbow smashing into ribs. The usual pain (sneezing OMFG) but I MTFU, so I thought, and was quickly back on bike. I was duly warned you are susceptible to chest infections especially if you return to full training (can’t remember why) and it can then really set you back. Of course l ignored this warning & thus got a chest infection which set me back a fair bit as it then takes longer to clear. So I would just take it easy let it heal.

    theflatboy
    Free Member

    I broke one of mine snowboarding on Tuesday the week before last, i.e. 12 days ago. Riding to work and back last week wasn’t great, but managed to get out for three hours on the road bike today and it was ok – painful over bumps and I can’t breathe a full inhalation – probably only to about 80% capacity – but it was manageable.

    spectabilis
    Free Member

    Whenever you feel like it, there’s nothing that’ll really help it.

    Did mine at Stiniog last year. A night on the Rum to ease the pain then rode it again the next day.
    TBH riding took my mind off it. Doing everyday stuff, pain took 2-3 weeks to go.

    opusone
    Free Member

    I came off on a descent a few months ago and landed heavily on a rock on my side. I was so annoyed with myself that I pushed the bike up to the top of the descent to do it again, but better. I found out a few weeks later that I’d broken a rib in the fall. It hurt like buggery when I was climbing but was fine on the bike.

    So, to answer your question, about 5 minutes.

    Edit: having read your post, it sounds like you may have broken it “worse” or in some way differently (maybe a different rib) to me, as mine just didn’t hurt when I was cycling. Maybe a better answer would be how long mine hurt for, which was about 5-6 weeks. I’ve still got a nice callus there now.

    Functionally, a broken rib isn’t like a broken forearm or tibia. With long bone fractures, you’ll give yourself problems down the line if you don’t rest it. A broken rib you can more or less treat like a bad bruise, so the only thing you need to worry about is whether it hurts it not it’ll heal whatever you do to it (within reason).

    theboyneeds
    Free Member

    Bad luck matey. About 4 weeks and don’t go full gnar until 6-7 weeks.

    Take painkillers. Codeine is good. Try to breath normally.

    I’ve done it a few times. I nearly passed out whilst driving when i sneezed once. I cetainly shed tears.

    thegreatape
    Free Member

    It was about 4 weeks for me.

    scott_mcavennie2
    Free Member

    Cheers people. The effort down the road on the bike really bloody hurt – like I felt sick. Stationary bike is fine, but add soon as I move around on one it’s agony.

    Done two sessions on the wattbike which were bearable, so it’s a good opportunity to improve my pedal technique. I hope to try a ride next week though.

    Regarding the chest infection – one of the other dads on the trip is a doctor. He said that he needed me to keep breathing really deeply even though it would hurt and to keep coughing, as this would stop the chest infection. Been doing both of those, but sneezing is where the real pain is.

    sillyoldman
    Full Member

    Done it a few times. 6-8 wks for me. Last week or so is usually the most painful for some reason

    MTB-Idle
    Free Member

    Do mine regularly. 4 to 6 weeks to heal fully but you can ride before then, just take it easy.

    iain65
    Free Member

    Did mine 4 weeks ago at the first Midlands XC race, managed back on the Wattbike a week later and on the bike after two, still very sore now but got round the 50k Honc with my wife today which was a struggle.

    I think I have another 2 to 3 weeks to go before it’s better and maybe a bit longer before I can control a bike properly (or to the same poor standard I used to…).

    Good luck, I found Codeine and whiskey seemed to work well 🙂

    MTB-Idle
    Free Member

    co-codamol for me. Makes work meetings seem very surreal

    Junkyard
    Free Member

    4-8 weeks

    IMHO it is not worth even trying MTB till you can do a full breath without pain or fear – imagine pulling up on your bars downhill on a rocky descent.

    You can pedal gently on the road bike or turbo depending on how bad a break it was 2-4 weeks.

    Anyone who says they broke their ribs and rode the next day/week did not break their ribs they bruised them

    If they are broken you wont be able to get in and out of bed without working out the logistics never mind ride a bike.

    Northwind
    Full Member

    Varies massively. First time I did it, a couple of weeks later I raced 10 Under The Ben 😆 Went to the docs the week after as I was bothered that it wasn’t really improving, he said “Nothing to be done- I’m sure I don’t need to tell you to take it easy”. Yes, that is what I’ve been doing.

    Second time, I thought “Ah this’ll be fine, I’ve done this before” and was gutted to discover that it’s not always so easy, I was off the bike for at least a month. I’ve done it a few times now- I’ve got osteoperosis so I break a little easily- and that’s the main thing I’ve learned, don’t assume or plan anything because the prognosis really does vary.

    Last time I did it, I was ****ed, properly. Landed on my side on a stump. High up, front and back, it took heavyweight painkillers just to get out of bed never mind ride a bike. I was genuinely more debilitated with that one, than I was when I got out of the hospital after breaking my hip! And it hurt an awful lot more. Used up the last of my secret tramadol stash 🙁 OTOH I think I was pretty lucky to get up from that crash at all.

    Pro tip- sleeping is difficult, but can be easier if you don’t lie flat. Partly because getting up and down is an absolute nightmare but also the change of orientation stirs everything up, I’m personally convinced it slows the healing though, IANAD. I’ve found it much better to sleep in a comfy chair or in a nest of cushions, pillows etc in bed (though, I did get trapped in my nest last time and had to be dug out)

    crispycross
    Free Member

    I broke one a couple of years back. Kept me off the bike completely for a week or so, then gentle road and turbo stuff. You’ll know when you’re ready to push on to something more ambitious.
    First few days were properly nasty – getting out of bed took codeine, paracetamol and a dose of MTFU but it very soon got easier.
    I normally prefer to grin and bear it than take lots of painkillers, but with damaged ribs its important that you can breathe properly – that includes coughing. If it hurts too much, you’ll try to suppress the cough reflex and can risk getting a chest infection, so make sure you take enough painkillers.

    Northwind
    Full Member

    Yep, worth a GP trip just to get a scrip for the good stuff tbh. There’s no merit to toughing it out.

    trailhound101
    Full Member

    As crispycross says – listen to your body and you’ll know when to push on. Last year I cracked my scapula, separated my ACJ and did 2 ribs on the 20 Feb after losing the front on ice on the way to work. Got some HD painkillers from A&E and then took a week of complete rest. Then a week or so just on the turbo, then back onto road biking (yes the bumps hurt at first so used my HT on a newish cycle track) and then ramped it up as I felt more and more comfortable. I took part in the Cheshire Cat sportive (80 miler) which was 29th March … pretty sure I didn’t do any off road until end of April.
    Hope that helps.
    Good luck.

    gelert
    Free Member

    Broken / badly bruised ribs previous weekend (April 3rd) at a race (during practice) on the Sunday and was riding again Wednesday evening and again this weekend. Hurts to do gym or swimming but riding is ok… well I raced on it… I only thought I had a stitch until I got home and was curled over in pain. A “stitch” said my mates… MTFU and get racing. Adrenalin… brilliant.

    Previous broken/bruised rib was over 2 years ago also riding again after a week. OTB used rib as a brake.

    Time before that was 9-10 years ago in a car (seatbelt doing it’s job) and I wasn’t a MTBer but I definitely moaned for weeks… now I just want to ride ASAP after any injury.

    Getting out of bed is the worst. Coughing, laughing, sneezing. Scream out loud!! I try to brace the rib if I get chance.

    I have to sleep on my back or previous rib injuries flair up. If I do turn over it can be scram worthy pain. Nowt they’ll do for you though so MTFU and get on with it.

    If it hurts too much rest. If you can bear it… ride.

    Hope everyone with rib pain heals up fully. Mine never have though.

    andysredmini
    Free Member

    Next morning for me when I broke a couple. I had no choice as I commute to work by bike. It was agony for weeks but the worst was still to come. I was asleep in bed and woke up. I sneezed and heard the ribs crack fully which was unbelievably painful. It probably took about 6 months for them to fully heal. It didn’t stop me doing anything but hurt like hell.

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