Bruised / cracked ribs

I has a silly fall on Monday on the MTB. There has been some work done on a fire road in the local plantation, and a trail that starts there had a bridge that was lifted by the workers digging out the drainage ditches.

I knew the ground was soft, but decided to try get through the ditch and up the other side onto the trail. Went slow, front wheel just stopped and twisted at the bottom and dumped me into the bank onto some conveniently placed roots.
My immediate concern was my very sore hip, but once I had riden home, my ribs are now killing me. No bad bruising, no bad pain to touch, but hectic pain coughing, laughing, moving etc.

My wife says I should go to A&E, but couldn’t really be bothered, there is nothing they can do.
Who else is starting the new year with a silly injury?

I’ve a week left of my rib healing (5 week gone). No need to let it keep you off the bike. Just take some Ibuprofen before you go out.

Not me but I did do a rib a few years ago. You are right. They won’t do much except give you pain killers. They can get complicated if they damage something internal so go if pain get’s worse. I ended up going after I woke up in pain completely stuck in be as I couldn’t sit up.

Hug a pillow if you need to cough. Don’t avoid deep breathing and coughing. It took me a few weeks before I was comfortable to start any exercise. Turbo and walking. A fair bit longer before I could mountain bike properly. Mainly the loss of core strength/ mobility without pain.

That said Toon Aerts did a cx race with multiple broken ribs so maybe I’m soft…

I went for an easy ride this morning with the kids, and battled. Afterwards it’s been worse, battling to stand up, so some ibuprofen to help, I haven’t needed drugs so far, just sleeping on the first night.

As Jonba said above, don’t avoid deep breathing, no matter how painful. I avoided it the 2nd time I did mine, and regretted it randomly for the next couple of years, feeling absolutely fine with no pain, and suddenly feeling like i’d had a knife stuck in me when I reached/twisted/stretched past the hidden point that my body had decided was unacceptable.Lesson learned the hard way.

I had a huge OTB at the end of November – 40km/h jump that didn’t go to plan. Landed on my chest and only now are my ribs almost pain-free. I think I must have bruised my lungs too. I did get an x-ray as a precaution (and to see if I could continue riding) but figured that since I could breathe in and out fully I hadn’t broken any. Reckon it will be about 8wks in total to heal fully. Lesson learned!

Broke my ribs 6 times now.
As above make sure you don’t avoid deep breathes even if it’s a couple every hour or so, it will stop the risk of pneumonia.
6-8 weeks is the average recovery time but sometime the intercostal muscles can take longer, 9 months was my worst one.
I have normally got back on the road after about 2 weeks and 4-6 weeks offroad, doctors advice was always don’t go offroad too soon if you come off and hit that side you potentially risk puncturing a lung.

Broke mine at least 4 times now (last one with a spine). Codeine stops you coughing, so you might want some of that. A good 6 weeks to heal. I was back on my road bike commuting within 2 weeks, but couldn’t get out of the saddle. Took a bit longer than 6 weeks due to still healing.

I broke 4 ribs when I broke my spine, and they were completely healed after 6 weeks – I had been lay flat on my back for over 6 weeks in hospital – the spine took a fair while longer.

Broke two ribs at a 24 hour race at Fort William 15 months ago. Just about right now. Exactly same symptoms as Coatesy above. Just got to suck it up cos there ain’t much hospital or docs can do. Could get out of bed properly for a week. Bloody agony. I found microwaveable heat pad helped.

Nasty did mind May 2015 crashed greenlining on the Ridgeway knew something was wrong when I loaded the bike back into the van it was 3 days later when I woke up and it was crazy pain really hard to turn a van steering wheel did 2 of them had 3 weeks of work as I drive and lift for a living as said above nightmare when you sneeze my god it hurts hope it clears up quick.

I hurt my ribs last week trying to ride switch on my snowboard. An ibuprofen / paracetamol combo has been seeing me through.

Not too serious as not hurting much now. NHS website advice is quite good, follow it…

I’ve done my ribs a couple of times and as others have noted, there’s no treatment just pain management. 6 weeks and you’ll be fine. I broke my hand on a tree 5 weeks ago whist riding at Swinley. At least it’s not summer…

Yep done mine a few times. Most ridiculous was leaning over my saddle with my ribs on top of it and wrenching up the rear track nut as hard as I could.

mangaged to injure my ribs on the way to work on Fri Dec20th. I didn’t realise I’d done anything to them until the afternoon when I went to stretch and throught ‘what’s that pain in my ribs?’, then I realised what I’d done. I don’t think it’s a crack though, just bruised and damaged intercostals I expect.

No need to let it keep you off the bike. Just take some Ibuprofen before you go out.

I’m not riding at the moment, it definitely made mine worse riding a couple of miles across town to my brothers on Christmas day and Boxing day.

Last year (2019) i ended up breaking 5 ribs over the year, 3 left side and 2 on the right, not much they can do for it, bar what is stated above, only issue is if you have any ribs moving or floating (not the ones at the bottom that do move), which can cause issues with causing damage, if you or your wife feel any movement of the ribs that aren’t meant too, then get it checked out (minor or A&E).

You could also suffer from a strain to the intercostal muscles that hold the ribs together, had that a couple of times and it’s agony, usually caused by a violent movement, such as a fall or twist, and is just a nightmare to recover from due to the amount of usage that they have.

Two broken ribs and a collar bone here. Go to Urgent Care (avoid A&E) to get checked for a pneumothorax, which is air leaking from your lung.

I stopped ibuprofen because it gave me searing indigestion and codeine because it constipated me solid and gave me downers. Use paracetamol, which is extremely good if you take it properly, meaning 1gm every 6 hours. Keep a note of times on a piece of paper so you don’t let the level drop.

It helps to avoid sneezing, which means avoiding a cold. Wash hands (all the family) on entering the house and on sitting down at work. Take zinc tabs (cheap at ASDA) and avoid rubbing your eyes or picking your nose. Doing this I haven’t had a cold for 16 months since the accident.