I came a cropper at HTN and ended up with a broken rib. Its still blooming agony at times. Any experience as to how long they take to mend?

I was told 6 weeks- after 5 I couldn’t see it but pretty much bang on 6 it eased and could ride again

Yes, twice, both bike related, one from hitting a badger on a night ride. Yes badger was fine :roll:. Lots of discomfort for 5 to 6 weeks unfortunately. Painkillers are good. Hospital said I was the first bike/ badger incident they had had !! didnt help the pain mind you.

You will be sore for around six weeks. Avoid laughing, sneezing and coughing.

Use a big beanbag as a pillow, helps stop you rolling over in your sleep and screaming yourself awake.

Lord knows. Came off at Cannock – first weekend in February and it’s only just now that my ribs are starting to ease up. The sister at the docs prescribed a couple of ibuprofen three times a day for a few weeks to help with the soft tissue damage (no idea if mine were broken) but it’s twisting / stretching / turning that still does mine.

So saying – it must be 6 weeks now and it’s heaps better. The irony is, I had an entry for HTN the week after I did this and had to give it to a mate.

Took about 6 weeks for mine to heal completely, first week was hell but after a couple of weeks is was more annoying twinges than really painful.

Thrusty – are you just trying to make him laugh with your badger story – that’s just mean!

Took me about 6 weeks too, sneezing is the worst!

I wish Baldman. Every bit of paperwork was infested with pictures of badgers when I eventually got back to work a couple of days after !!! I was first on the descent on a gravel track at about 25 mph and it came out the bushes on my left and I didnt have enough time to avoid it. Mates thought it was a firework display with my lights flashing and bouncing in the trees.They found my bike in the trail, I was in a ditch.

😆

sorry, that is quite funny!

Done it a few times, blooming hurts it does.

6 weeks about ave.

6 weeks.

Just make sure you breathe deeply whenever you can. Many folks with rib injuries pick up chest infections because they take shallow breaths to avoid pain.

Arnica tablets worked well for me (and I’m a skeptic!).

Aye – 6 weeks or so. You might find that orthopaedic padding helps initially ease the pain-1/2″ thick adhesive backed felt like stuff.

Varies a lot, both in time to heal and bloody awfulness while it’s doing it. Only advice I have is a) don’t get a cold (but I always, always do), b) get to the doctor for some proper painkillers, the strong diclofenac is helpful and c) if you have trouble sleeping, try a seating position- seems to be changing from vertical to horizontal puts different pressures on the healing bones, sitting upright in a chair or a nest of pillows gives a relatively good night.

Oh and also d) try not to break your ribs.

Plenty of good advice so far but I can also say that 18 mnths after my breaks/fractures I still get the occasional pains and discomfort

I never found out whether mine was broken or sprained as they wouldn’t X-ray it. (it makes little difference anyway as treatment is the same – nothing!)

A&E doctor said: “it’s broken, don’t ride your bike for 6 weeks”. GP said: “It’s sprained, you can ride your bike as long as it doesn’t hurt too much”. So I decided that A&E guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about 😉

It was much better after 2 weeks and completely better after 6. Actually after 2 weeks it was pretty much fine except for lying down and sneezing (you sneeze a lot more with a broken rib, **** knows why!) No symptoms since.

2 tips: as above, they told me in A&E you mustn’t just take shallow breaths as you can get an infection. and if you think you’re going to sneeze, tuck your arms in to brace your rib cage and mutter: “oh crap!…”

2 months to knit properly for me, but had to sleep sitting up…otherwise I was in agony even with the pain killers.

I did mine on Friday night while Taetwondo sparring . Feckity **** ****.. I feel the OP’s pain. Couple of cracked ribs, on co codamal and diclafenic.
Remember that nurse said the painkillers would make me constipated.
Understatement of the year. now feels like I’m splitting in two from my stomach now. So today’s treat is no pain relief while I attempt to give birth to an anoconda. While trying not to strain!!!
If anyone needs me, I’ll be in the corner crying..

As others suggested, I found sleeping in an armchair helped, wedged into place with pillows.