I came off the bike a couple of weeks back, and since then I’ve had pain when I laugh, cough, sneeze or turn left where I slammed down. I’m pretty sure I’ve not broken anything, but what damage could I have done that is taking this long to fix, and which is getting more painful in a localised area as the days go by?

Sound broken to me.

Be interested in hearing any answers to this myself. Assumed bruising when I fell last Tuesday and whilst pain is lessening it seems to be taking a lot longer than it used to.

the thing that makes me think ‘not broken’ is the pain isn’t excruciating so I’m M-ingTFU and just getting on with it. Curious to know what it could be though.

Doesn’t have to excruciating that’s just a rough guide, could be they’re just bruised. If you’re concerned then pop and see you GP or a Walk in Centre.

Now nearly two weeks post the embarrassing fall and ribs no better. I think would have gone to the Doctors but the perceived wisdom is there is nothing can be done with ribs.

Coughing and sneezing is not amusing and I am now starting with a cold. Bugger!

Just remember to take the odd deep breath.

Sounds exactly like my broken ribs hurts like hell when you cough sneeze laugh, as you say though nothing they can do, they wouldnt even x ray mine she just pushed hard on my chest and said yeah there broken and off i went?

It seems to be the week for ribs !

and I have probably written enough about them this week 😀

I have done mine twice this year.. The first time the pain was debilitating, I went to A&E and the lady doctor was quite rude really, we don’t x ray ribs why did you come here !, anyway after explaining I would quite like to know what was wrong, she got me in a bear hug squeezed my rib cage and the pain was so bad it was interesting. After some prodding around I reckon they were broke in a few places and perhaps twice on one rib. They were painful for about 6 months. the first month it was restricting my movement.

This time the pain the same kind of pain ( can feel the bone against bone and sneezing is bad) but at about 50% to 60% less intensity and has not really stopped me moving about like it did last time. Hope it does not take as long to heal…Hopefully get on the bike pretty soon.

Hope you feel better soon, One thing the doc did mention ( we did get along OK after a while) was that if the rib had punctured any tissue lungs etc, that your blood pressure would be through the roof.

@pook just seen this, it could be that you’ve just torn the muscle layer, I’ve done that twice (not biking) and it hurts quite a bit for a fair while after (breathing, laughing, coughing, trying to sleep …). It can also be just bad bruising or a small crack in the bone.

yeah five days on and its still bloody painful

Good analgaesia and patience are the key factors here.

Broken bones take about 6 weeks to fully heal, ribs (if actually broken) will probably be painful for a good while longer than that. The treatment is the same regardless of whether they’re bruised or broken – painkillers and rest. Be guided by how they feel but if you have actually broken any it might be a fair bit longer than 6 weeks before they feel “right” again. Sorry to depress you, make sure you get some decent painkillers from your GP as sleeping, coughing, sneezing etc can be quite painful.

DOI Doctor and broke 2 ribs last summer. Was off the MTB for about 10 weeks