What are the symptoms?

Pain, esp when laughing.

Does it hurt to exhale?

Is it sore to the touch?

Sneeze. If it’s followed by tears, it could be a rib. Still, whether it’s cracked, broken or bruised, the treatment is the same. Rest and patience.

It will get worse before it gets better. Everything will be tight and self protecting right now. As it eases, it will hurt more for a while.

Remember to force yourself to breath deeply a few times each day to circulate air through the lungs and avoid infection.

Hope it’s only mild and heals quickly.

When you wake yourself screaming when you roll over in your sleep

Yes, it is possible.

inability to move rapidly
Difficulty breathing especially deep breaths
hard to move involving torso
Agony when you first lie down on a bed as everything relaxes

Waking up and releasing you dont know how to get out of bed

Sneezing is the scariest thing in the world and feels like you have been stabbed

If you cannot take a deep breath without considerable pain then it is broken IMHO
There is no actual treatment though so it is does not really matter

I’ve done it twice. Same place both times which has resulted in a little lump on my ribcage where it’s healed.

Symptoms are that it hurts like **** when you sneeze, laugh, cough or try and lift something heavy. Otherwise just gently aches a bit.

It generally takes a hefty crash to cause it though, proper faceplant. When it happens it just feels like you’re really badly winded. There’s nothing you can do about it though. Take it easy, have painkillers. It’ll heal up of it’s own accord.

If you can sneeze without screaming then they’re just bruised. 😀

You’ll realise just how often you’re torso muscles tense up just by standing still. That alone is bloody painful.

Everyone else seems to have covered it up there… the first time I just bruised some ribs and thought the pain couldn’t get any worse. Then about 2 years later I cracked one rib and broke another. I discovered that the previous one had just been a gentle tickle…

When you wake up in the morning; attempt to take pain killers lying down and then give them 30 minutes before trying to sit up then it’s probably cracked.

Aw thanks chaps.

Had another tumble off the bike last week and it is indeed getting worse as onzadog says.

Yes, hurts when sneezing(did scream), trying to sleep and coughing. Going for the badly bruised option as I can still ride my bike. Maybe adrenalin is helping to dull the pain.

Knowing one way or the other doesn’t really help. You can’t splint them or plaster them, so not really much point. If you are not in too much pain to ride your bike I would,suspect you are in the badly bruised category. Obviously crashing with already broken ribs could cause more and much worse damage, but you’re not likely to be able to ride in comfort if you have bust them.

Take your time!

Broke mine twice – once ages ago (bike related) and once a month ago (stairs related)!

The difference between bruised and cracked is the unfeasibly long time they take to heal if cracked. After 3 or 4 weeks you think hey why is the pain still getting worse…..properly cracked ribs take about 3 months to heal

Brused or cracked, remember, if you don’t fully exhale, you may get some horrid lung disease.

Even if it hurts, breath right out then in a few times to clear the lungs of stale air in a nice moist warm environment….

Also, on your all fours, do superman with one arm at a time (or you may face plant) to stretch the intercostal muscles.

Also, see a physio, last time I thought I’d cracked a few ribs, I suffered for 5 weeks but it didn’t get any better, a few visits to the physio sorted out my dislocated ribs to a pain free (ish) conclusion. Wish Id seem the physio sooner!

In the meantime, carry a towel to wrap around you quickly if a sneeze comes on.

Take Ibruprofen

pain, feel of creaking/cracking if you lie on it 🙁 Spent 2 months not sleeping on my left side as the grinding feel/sound wasnt pleasant. The most innocuous things can do ribs; I cracked one earlier this year bending over to lift a heavier-than-I-thought box, and involuntarily bracing myself against another box. Colleague just done it leaning over a fence.

Knowing one way or the other doesn’t really help…

you can be more careful to avoid complications/punctured lungs. I realised (and had it checked out and confirmed) after I’d spent a week snowboarding in zero vis (ie. stacking it at some point on every run). No real pain at the time and no long term ill effects other than a slightly ugly bulge where its knitted back together, but I wasnt a calvin klein model anyway…

Take Ibruprofen

the only thing the fracture clinic told me was to not take ibruprofen. It is an anti-inflammatory, and it is essentially the inflammatory response that leads to new bone growth.

Going for the badly bruised option as I can still ride my bike

First time I cracked mine was 2hrs into a 10hr enduro MTB race. Finished the race, got 5th. 🙂

Next morning, I couldn’t move. I found this hysterical but laughing made it SO much worse!

I was back on the road bike within a few days but couldn’t comfortably do any out of the saddle climbing for a week or so. It affects everyone differently, there’s not a lot you can do other than just put up with it.

Did mine hitting the ground chest first at about 25mph after washing out on a wooden bridge over some Marshland, managed to rip my palm and knee open at the same time.

Never been so winded in my life ,after several minutes of focussed breathing managed to complete my abbreviated ride.

Several hours later was when the real fun kicked in, comfirmed by a trip to A & E.
Some of the pain killers I got(Kapake)had interesting effects.

Cracked mine casing the living sheet out of the step up at the manchester indoor bmx track.Then carried on riding for an hour.I suspect I actually broke it flopping into the car seat to go home.I cant actually be sure as I passed out from the pain for a little while 🙁
2 weeks of sheer agony,followed by 2 weeks of intermittent agony,followed by 2 weeks of dull aching.5 months later I can still feel where I did it.

The most frustrating thing I’ve ever done.
Hit a tree night riding cwm carne years ago and still feels odd if I reach up with my left hand

But a recent batch of back treatment has made it lots better
A trip to an osteopath is never a bad thing IMO

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