Bruised ribs – recovery time, painkillers and training

I managed to fall off and bruise my ribs on my left hand side the other week (my diagnosis, not been to the docs).

I’ve been taking Ibuprofen to allow me to get on with day to day life, but I’ve noticed that after I stop taking Ibuprofen, I feel worse than I did in the days immediately after falling off.

I expect part of this is down to painkillers allowing me to do do things that my body would tell me to stop doing – so in theory, if I can make myself rest, I should be alright.

Or is it the case that painkillers a) let you carry on without resting and b) also hinder recovery – I presume the inflammation that most painkillers stop has some function.

Anyone know for sure? And has anyone got any idea how long I’ll be making old man noises every time I stand up?

And what can I do whilst I’m waiting to get sorted? At present I’m in a position where changing gear and lifting a mug of coffee with my left hand is pretty bloody painful. Am I looking at weeks of exercise bike / walking / body weight squats?

When I initially broke my collarbone I was told to take anti inflammatories, I was later advised to stop these and just take paracetemol. The theory was that your body actually needs to be inflamed where the injury is in order to start fixing. That was just my experience anywho.

Im in a similar situation myself after hugging a tree and using said tree to stop instead of the brakes. Bruised the right side of my rib cage and was completely in agony when I did it. Its now two weeks on and I’m still not right and still having to use ibuprofen for the pain. I also sound like “wheezy” the character from Toy Story when I breathe. Not good.

Anti inflammatories are supposed to inhibit bone regrowth, but I would get down to the docs and get some proper big diclofenac. Then just try and get on with your life as well as you can. And put up with the pain.

I’m not sure if “getting on with life” will help much. My new bash guard came in the post the other day – I got the bike out and put it into the workstand, and the next day my ribs were thrashing.

I suspect I need to rest it as much as possible, but it’s bloody annoying – almost anything physical aggravates it.

I popped a rib before Xmas playing 5-a-side. I could feel it for a couple of months, didn’t take any pain killers, but as I tend to be “fairly sedentary” thru Nov-Jan it got a lot of rest and has been fine since I got back on the bike in mid Jan.

Rest always heals! Lashings of Xmas beer didn’t seem to do any harm either.

I feel your pain.
Bailed out on a ride on holiday in Ibiza 3 weeks ago. Landed fairly comfortably in some shrubbery but unfortunately the bike landed on me a few seconds later, with full force of spd pedal into my right hand side.
It’s rather ouchy 🙁
I’ve sacked the ibuprofens now and am only riding the full suss, as the rigid forked hardtail does me no good at all.
I did the front of my ribcage in similar fashion about 3 years ago and it took around 6 weeks before the pain was mostly gone and I could sneeze without crying!
As far as recuperation goes – I’m settling for doing as much cycling as I can but going easy on the drops and jumps etc, I’m putting more effort into cycling shorter distances but faster than normal to keep fitness and to also keep me breathing deeply ( it’s probably not breathing as deep as usual due to the pain that’s making you wheezy chainslap).

Apparently pain is the sign of weakness leaving the body. So we should rejoice in the collective weakness we are losing…… Oh and try not to sneeze 😉

One of the best things you can do is use ‘Arnica cream’ helps bring the bruise quicker. Helped my millions when not a complete cripple playing rugby!

Just be careful, I bruised my ribs last year and it was 8 weeks before I got rid of the pain. Speaking to a doc afterwards I should of had it checked out as a mild chest infection can become more serious due to your reluctance to cough.

Top tips for rib injuries from more experience than I care for.

1. Sleep lying on your side ON the injured rib. Put a pillow under the injured rib to act as a splint. Most of the pain comes from the rib moving. The better it is splinted, the better you will sleep.

2. Similar to above, if you are going to sneeze/cough, hold the injured rib firmly to splint it. Again, the less it moves, the less painful it will be.

3. As clwydrider says, there is a risk of chest infection. This comes from being reluctant to breathe deeply, and not clearing your lungs. You have to force yourself to do this through the pain. Once again, hold the injured rib firmly to splint it and breathe deeply several times. Do this several times a day.

4. Keep your upper body mobile. You risk muscular problem in your back if you don’t keep it moving. Make sure you keep your upper body nice and loose.

It takes longer than you think to recover completey, which is frustrating. But you can probably ride sooner than you think. Just don’t do anything too daft.

Painkillers are good and don’t slow the recovery rate. I would recommend oral Arnical pillules. It is questionable how effective topical Arnica is. Absorption rates are quite poor.

Good luck!

+ 1 for the Arnica cream. I fractured three vertebrae a week ago and had a huge bruise on my arse. The Arnica cream has at least trebeled the number of comfortable positions i can lie in.