On Saturday I had a pretty heavy crash and landed on my right hand chest/back. Since then it has hurt to bend down, breath heavily and cough. I can only sleep on one side and moving about in bed is agony.
During the day its not too bad, I can feel discomfort but not much pain unless I move in a way that stretches the area.
There was and is no bruising in the area. Would rather avoid the 4 hour wait for an x-ray if its just me been a wuss! What to STW think?
Could just be bruising, I've done both and it feels pretty similar tbh. A lot of places won't even x-ray unless it's look severe and there's a chance of a punctured lung resulting from a fracture. Took a couple of weeks for me for the discomfort of bruised ribs to ease off and then a couple more weeks before it felt normal.
"What to STW think?"
In my expert accountant experience, I think you have broken a rib, which has puntured a lung and some other vital organ, and that you only have 5hrs 39mins 2 seconds left to live.
Thanks, that makes my mind up about not going to hospital. What about playing football and cricket - bad idea?
I'd be surprised if you could tbh and I'm guessing it wouldn't speed up the recovery :p
My general rule with things like this is........... if it hurts as much or more after 48 hrs, go see someone
What about playing football and cricket - bad idea?
If you are even considering doing either of those then you didn't land hard enough!!!
When I had bruised ribs I could barely move let alone think about playing footy! I was dosed up on Codeine and Ibuprofen.
Could be bruised/broken or cracked from your description.
They all hurt though, healing vibes.
Ibuprofen and sit tight for a few days, you'll be fine.
Wot they said ^^^ take pain killers and monitor. They won't give you an x-ray anyhow, unless it looks like you are dying and will basically just tell you to go home rest/ take medication. See how you go, rib stuff does seem to be disproportionately painful IME and that of others 
so if you are able to play football/ cricket etc then there really is nothing wrong with you at all 
I had the same two summers ago - convinced I had broken a rib. Went to the hospital after the pain didn't go away after a few days. Waited absolutely ages just to be prodded in the rib and told to take some ibuprofen and rest.
I was impatient and kept on trying to be active which just makes it worse and means it takes longer to heal. I'd completely rest up until the pain is pretty much gone.
If you rest up until the pain is more or less gone you'll be months!
Excercise is good so long as not making condition worse. I've done my ribs twice in last couple of years and both times was back on bike after a week. Nothing to hard or bumpy, just nice and easy, and I felt better on bike than just walking about the house!
I'm having physio at mo to rehab bad ankle injury and some of ex's are painful, but I know I'll recover quicker than sitting on my backside.
Sleeping is difficult for a week or 2 and sneezing is orrible...
Good luck.
I am a serial rib breaker (done about 10 so far) and I can tell the difference quite well between the two.
There is a simple test you can apply:
Wait 3 months. If it still hurts, it was broken. If not, it was just bruised.
Works every time.... oh, and unless you have punctured a lung (which you'd know about), don't bother with A&E or x-rays, the treatment for bruising vs. broken is the same - rest.
Dave
There's loads of muscles covering the chest and ribs so there's a good chance that you'll have strained a load of these, especially if it only hurts when you move your arms, cough etc. I'm pretty sure that's what i did a couple of years ago when i had a big off and landed heavily on my chest. I was wearing body armour which probably prevented any breaks but it would still have given my ribs a good shove! I could poke all my ribs without any real pain which i would have expected if i had cracked a rib, however i had to sleep sitting up for a week and couldn't raise my arm above horizontal. Took several weeks to go completely as other muscle strains seem to do.
And stay away from sick people, last thing you want is to be sneezing.
Bruised probably but could be cracked. 25% of cracked ribs don't show up on x-ray so they won't bother - the only way to know is after enough time passes. There's nothing they can do except prescribe painkillers. The big danger is organ injury but obviously you're fine here as it happened on Saturday. My injury took 3 weeks to stop hurting - ibuprofen and solpadeine.
You'll get a cold. Try to breathe deep occasionally to stop lung damage (painkillers help). Yawning helps get enough air in there.
i ruptured the cartilage between a couple of ribs whilst snowboarding, and that hurt like ****.
never broken one though, but suspect if you're thinking about playing football it's not as bad as it could be and therefore not broken.
Why will I get a cold?
Possibly because you breath differently and suppress coughing. If you start to get a cough, cough even if it hurts like hell. If you don't it can lead to a proper chest infection.
"Simply putting up with the pain is not a good idea as it can lead to shallow breathing, lack of coughing and chest infections."
http://www.patient.co.uk/health/Care-of-Rib-Injuries.htm
If you feel you can breath normally I would't worry too much.
I did mine a few months ago - Summersault with a flourish - landed with the handlebars in me ribs. I wouldn't bother going to hospital unless you have any other symptoms (dodgy breathing etc.) It's a long and boring wait and there's nothing they can do for it. They won't X-Ray it anyway so you won't be any the wiser really.
In my case, A&E examined me and told me "it's broken, stay off your bike for six weeks) I went to my GP the next day and she said: "it's bruised, you can ride your bike as long as it doesn't hurt too much". Clearly, she knows what she's talking about
If you need to cough or sneeze (as said above, DON'T suppress a cough reflex, it's an important lung clearing mechanism that prevents infection) brace yourself with your arm and it won't hurt so much. I found riding wasn't too bad.... Turning over in bed was the worst.
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