bashed my ribs on a root whilst hurling myself down some knarly eroded steps today. Hurts whenever i breathe/move. thing is i can’t see that i hit them hard enough to crack a rib so i’m thinking i might have bruised one of my intercostal muscles. anyone got any experience of bruised or broken ribs?

Yes.
Both hurt like buggery. Nowt can be done about either apart from pain killers!

DrP

I had bruised ribs painful for about 3 – 4 weeks rode a week later that just made it worse so rested up and all was well after the 3rd week and fixed on the 4th

I could breathe without pain but bending, lying on them, pressing them in any way and rough surfaces was uncomfortable.

Someone I rode with broke a rib and he suffered much more pain, breathing, sneezing, laughing etc… and that took 6 or so weeks to get better.

Yours sounds a little worse than mine, I would suggest a trip to A&E it you want to be sure rather than forum health diagnostics, I didn’t but probably should have 🙂

Yes, they can be very painful.
Bruised lots from competitive Judo but never broken one, however a training partner broke two of his and mine seemed to hurt for longer (that or I am is big wuss, which is highly likely). Found that those small jars of Tiger Balm were great at easing the pain.

You might have cracked them – I’ve done that a couple of times, in fact I’ve still got the lump from it. Hurts like hell for about a month but there’s nothing you/anyone can do about it except to pester the doctor for extra strong painkillers.

As above. The pain is very similar and it’s hard to tell without an x-ray which ones you’ve got. I’ve felt a fairly sharp internal snap when I’ve broken mine though. Bloody hurts and no mistake either way, and for a long time too. I broke a couple doing ‘just one last jump’ on my gimp before going on holiday and spent the entire two weeks in agony.

I’ve bruised,cracked and broken mine….all hurt a lot. There’s no rhyme,or reason with recovery time,but it can take a while.

got some tramadol in the cupboard, paracetamol didnt work so i might neck a couple and then go to bed. it sounds like theyre just bruised from what youre saying, can’t be arsd with A+E on the weekend – full of wee wee heads!

Just make sure someone knows you hurt yourself and get them to check on you.

across the counter painkillers… when i bust mine, i pinched some of mi mars for her buggered shoulder…savage pain without, with, almost like nothing had happened…they need to be hardcore or it won’t make any difference……

if you know a cheep smack dealer……………

Came off my bike about 4 weeks ago and did something to my ribs, very painful, but like you didnt know whether bruised cracked or broken. Any type of exersice or manual work seemed to set the healing back, so rested for last week and it seems to have just about gone now, which is just as well as Im riding around the Hmalayas in 2 days!

When I did mine I waited two weeks to go to hospital, got told off by the nurse when I did and, like forge said, was told that there’s nothing to be done other than wait.

That said, being sure you won’t puncture a lung isworth the time in A&E.

Had a “small incident” at Swinley this morning and got a right load of bruising on right side of ribcage. From past experience, I’m confident i’ve not fractured anything – just a load of bruising. Arnica is the stuff, as soon as you can after the injury, orally and as a cream on affected area. Ibuprofen is the best painkiller as it also reduces inflamation.
I aslo mashed up my face and split my helmet in two….but that’s another story. 😕
Good luck old chap!

A few years ago when i worked with horses, i was helping to start a youngster, Thorobred(5yr old).
I got bucked whilst lying over the saddle and landed smack on the pommel onto my side.
I was sure that i had broke a rib, the pain was agonising, when i got to the Hospital for an x-ray, it turned out that i had bruised the top rib.

I’ve been ensured that breaking it hurts alot more by some.
And have been told by others that bruising the rib hurts more.
As i havent broke any yet, i can only comment on the bruising and that sure hurt alot.

thats gash.
both hurt like hell
its not too nice if you get a “crunch” going on.

i perscribe a healthy dose of MTFU sadly, as theres not much else for it