probable cracked/broken rib(s) – what to-do?

Related but not completely, I’m obviously still a lemon here, but inr concern is the bit on my ar5e and above. There’s quite a lot of bruising but the whole area feels numb ish, not quite numb as in immune to pain but numb like your face feels after dentist injection etc. If I move wrong though there’s an insane stabbing pain there, which feels like I’d expect more.
Its just above and around the area where my scar is from where my femur was pinned and screwed, so may be it affected it from the fall/impact.

We have local doctors or minor injuries I can use tomorrow, but I also think, well it was Friday and over 48 hours now, if I was going to drop dead I would have by now?

@weeksy: have a read of this, make your mind up accordingly?

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/rib-injuries/Pages/Introduction.aspx

I went to the Minor Injuries.. sat for an hour and was told “Meh, you’re OK, you’ll live”

Everything checked but didn’t x-ray as the treatment is the same anyway.

In other news, i’ve just sneezed… it was just agony ! i thought i may cry !

Thanks for the update 😀

Also, validates my own decision to not bother…

Yeah, sneezing, ****-ing hurts. Twice only so far…. 👿

Yeah, sneezing, ****-ing hurts. Twice only so far….

If you feel one coming and you’ve got the time, wrap a towel around your chest and pull it tight as you sneeze, helped me a lot 🙂

I can only re-iterate get some pain killers and a try to breathe as normally as possible. I got a chest infection after my last set of broken ribs and ended up of oral morphine and codeine on Christmas Day not fun.

My advice would be not to get a cold/cough at the same time, been there and it is miserable 😥

@hooli: that is my concern, there’s a whole lot of it about right now (and my throat felt decidedly claggy this am…) 😥

Broke 2 ribs 6 months ago just carried on very painful ,. Good deep breathing I used to do 10 per half hour …hard to get out of bed for me ,sore

How’s the pain threshold bearing up?
Anyone able to sneeze or shite properly yet?

My bruised ribs are almost healed, still can’t sleep on my chest (which is my favoured position) and the Mrs says I snore too loudly whilst on my back, which is proving a little inconvenient for her..
Other than that I’m back out paddling tomorrow and have to make the best of the next few weeks before work kicks back in hard..

Mines getting better, I did a gentle turbo today.

Sneezing bad, can only sleep in 1 position.

2 weeks in and I can sneeze without feeling I’m being stabbed to death, yay! Just as well as the other evening I had a sneezing fit.

I can now lie on my ‘bad’ side without too much discomfort.

I’m weaning myself off the paracetamol but I’m still not managing a full nights unbroken sleep.

I managed a 170-odd mile motorbike run (over Glen Shee) on Sunday too. Some discomfort, was knackered afterwards but no real pain (other than when I forgot putting the bike on the centre stand in the petrol station in Pitlochry, ouch!)

Thinking most likely bruised (or cracked), rather than broken. And grateful for that!

Don’t forget to take some form of laxative, co-codamol blocks you up.. 😕

co-codamol blocks you up..

Oh yeah, which is why I was (fortunately) managing with only diclofenac and paracetamol.

Co-codamol is nasty stuff.

Mine are still plodding along, getting more movement and less pain gradually. I’ve managed a gentle Ridgeway type ride and a couple of garage sessions on turbo.
Still a problem sleeping though.

I’m having a massive internal debate about BPW in 9 days time !

Well I did Saturdays windsurfing session, to be fair I blasted around for an hour only to suffer with under ribs pain.. So yesterday (whilst it’s still windy) I did an 80k long interval session on the CXer. I feel a bit sore if I’m honest, but i have to crack on.
I’m only taking painkillers when I feel I need them, I’m still unsure if they’re bruised or one of them is cracked, considering it’s been three weeks now.

Only taking paracetamol at night to help sleep now.

First mtb outing is this Friday, so we’ll see how that goes…

do you get a dislocation type movement at times guys ? When i move in a particular way it’s almost like something dislodges/moves etc… it’s not horrifically sore when it does this, but isn’t nice.

I can almost sit up now etc from lying down using my core muscles…so that’s good.

do you get a dislocation type movement at times guys ? When i move in a particular way it’s almost like something dislodges/moves etc… it’s not horrifically sore when it does this, but isn’t nice.

First couple of nights I’d say I felt something a bit like that…

Nooooooooooooooooooooo

I sneezed… oh man… that was horrific !

I rebroke mine one time, after about 2 weeks, leaned over the side of a chair and pop. Don’t do that.

Also, broken ribs vs bruised ribs- seems to be a matter of tossing a coin, diagnostically, and the recovery for me is exactly the same, but tell everyone they’re broken as you get more sympathy.

I rebroke mine one time, after about 2 weeks, leaned over the side of a chair and pop. Don’t do that.

Well i’m booked to go to BPW next Weds…

i’ve binned it 4 out of the last 5 times there…

As you can imagine, i have some reservations about next Weds and i’m fairly unlikely to go.

but tell everyone they’re broken as you get more sympathy.

😆

Managed to get the grass cut yesterday (petrol mower, needs restarted every five minutes after emptying grass box) first time in three weeks. Feeling a bit sore today.

I have ongoing back issues and the standard exercises I do involve twisting and moving my rib cage… Only started again yesterday but the ‘rolling’ one I just couldn’t do this am…

Yeah, tricky one… Suppose it also depends if you can pass on the place to someone else. TBH I don’t really worry about re-injuring it, it’s just as much about whether you’ll be able to enjoy it, no point being a martyr.

(I have some history with this, this is a do what I say not what I do…)

weeksy, if its that sore sneezing how sore is falling off/over going to be?

I’m out on the bike on Friday but I’m at that three week stage that the NHS website says it gets better… <hoping that doesn’t jinx me like!>

weeksy, if its that sore sneezing how sore is falling off/over going to be?

I can imagine, very very bad.

Yeah, tricky one… Suppose it also depends if you can pass on the place to someone else. TBH I don’t really worry about re-injuring it, it’s just as much about whether you’ll be able to enjoy it, no point being a martyr.

It’s only £30 or so, if i can’t sell it on, i’m not that bothered. It’s not the end of the world.

It does mean i’m letting down 2 other mates though,1 of whom won’t go if i don’t…. which makes me feel bad.

which makes me feel bad.

How bad would they feel if you fall off and really **** yourself? Remember you’re much more likely to fall off when you’re trying not to fall off…. 😀

lol they’d probably wet themselves laughing as usual 🙂

That’s the problem I find, having done this a few times now..

Whilst your brain says “yeah do it, you’ll be fine” and the ribs still aching, the possibility of falling off/twisting and over compensating makes you take those sharp intakes of breath.. it’s then that the reality of the pain kicks back in again.. Fall off, well that’s worse because you’re so tensed up that you can’t fall correctly, then suffer even more

I’ve been out paddle surfing, but I’ve been wearing a buoyancy aid pulled right tight to help support my ribs, problem I have is falling off onto the side of the board (how I did this in the first place) but the buoyancy aid has helped no end with both protection and comfort.

Dammed if I’m stopping enjoying myself, but I’ll do most things to limit the damage.

Hope you ride goes well, you can of course just take it easy….. until you spot that nice section where you go flat out for r it !!!

Don’t assume the ribs are broken or cracked, I did that a few years ago but, 6 weeks later they were no better. I went to see a physio, she told me I’d dislocated my ribs!

Never knew you could.

Worth considering anyway.

My ribs got relocated in the next three sessions.

Satisfyingly uncomfortable sensation.

Still recovering, ribs are not bad now but still can’t cough fully. Front worse than back.
Weird thing is though is a movement when I breathe deeply in certain positions, not all positions, certainly not standing up, its luck something clicks into place each time etc, no pain, just the weird feeling, like wgen you crack your knuckles etc if that makes sense?

Did 44km offroad on Friday.

Forgot to take painkillers with me, dumb, dumb, dumb.

When my breathing got laboured I had discomfort, at both extremes of inhale and exhale… Great excuse for being slow… Sorry Colin.

The tech-ish singletrack section with the added bounce was similar. Discomfort, decided not to push it. Hey, at least I didn’t fall off!

Felt it yesterday, not so much today.

It was great to get out though 🙂

Just as well really though as I have a two day trip planned for w/c 17th. I need to operational for that.

I’m doing fine now, still a bit sore and feeling tender under my rib cage, but back both on the water and on the bike.

Oh, I had a bit of a cough Friday evening and yesterday. That was a little unpleasant under the circumstances.

Maybe its that exercise induced asthma that seems to be going about these days… 😉

Something genuinely useful for you: If you feel the urge to sneeze you can stop it by rapidly licking the roof of your mouth with the tip of your tongue.

First proper ride this morning, week 5.5, (1 sedate 10k commute at week 3) and I’m a broken man.
Not ribs, they’re pretty good, lungs not hurting the ribs, just a small amount of discomfort whilst climbing out of the saddle. My legs seem to be weak and feeble this afternoon, 28k feels like a lot more than it did 6 weeks ago before my slip.

Currently getting the clicking, knuckle cracking feeling a couple of the other posters have described after a crash at the ard moors enduro Initially didn’t hurt too bad, but a couple of days after had a sneezing fit and felt like I’d been stabbed and has been painful on and off since. Have broken and bruised ribs before and doesn’t feel as bad as that, can anyone shed any light as to what it could be?”

I can cycle nicely, did a zwift race tonight. I actually slept on my side last night for first time since crash.

Still delicate, too delicate for bpw anyway, but not a disaster. Clunking/clicking is getting to be a psychological irritation more than physical.

Climbing a ladder last week, about 10ft up it slipped, and down I came. The ladder flipped and walloped me in the chest.
Before I go on; I know it was probably my fault.
Bloody hell it hurt, I sweated gallons and went as white as a sheet. I knew I’d done my ribs, but to pacify Mrs YP who thought I may have damaged something else internally, off I trotted with humble apologies re wasting their time, to the local A&E dept.
They were brilliant. Sympathy, prodded and poked till I cried and came to the conclusion that they couldn’t do anything other than offer more sympathy and give me a mouthful of painkillers.
No problem. That first afternoon Codeine and adrenaline made me feel as if I’d just got a scratch.
How wrong was I. That evening it kicked in. We are now day four. I didn’t realise that even moving my toes affected the chest muscle! Its agony.
After a life outdoors and multiple injuries, I didn’t know damage to the chest could be so painful. Can’t move in bed, I can’t sit. I can’t laugh, cough or sneeze. Whats the point of resting if you can’t settle to rest.
I don’t know if my ribs are broken or bruised, because they now don’t x-ray, so there is no way of knowing. Whatever the damage is, may I suggest to others…….protect your ribs!

Damn strange injury isn’t it.

We seem to be able to take knocks and bruises to the legs and arms, just pass off tumbles off bikes and stuff. Yet a smack to the ribs almost flattens you, makes you immobile almost.

As mentioned above, there is no cure. It’s simply a case of resting up, keep deep breathing, take it easy but don’t become sedentary and try to keep moving.
Loads of experience and advice above, read and absorb and we’ll see you again in 6 weeks.

Me, I’m fully back to normal now. I suspect a few of the others on here are too.