Seriously?

GO TO A DOCTOR! You need xrays, at a minimum.

If this is just rib fracture, you'd be back to more or less normal in 6 weeks, 8 weeks at most. FL would be possible.

But it could be more than just a rib fracture.

one rib .. took my about 6 weeks to feel better. Sleeping was a pain... no coughing or laughing helps too. My wife swears it still sticks out more then the other.

6 weeks is what it takes. No laughing, no coughing and no turning during sleep ;-)
Sam

I've broken 3 separate times and have severely bruised ribs 2x.

The worst was the bruised ribs, ~4 weeks before I could laugh, cough, sneeze without nearly falling over, ~ 6-7 weeks before I could really do anything other than ride and ~ 10 wk before I didn't think about them.

The other bruise was about 4d. I also learned you should never play tackle football in your dorm hallway.

2/3 of the fx'd ribs were in the 5-8 week range

1/3 of the fx'd ribs were ~ 7-10d before it stopped bothering me.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

I agree with most....6 weeks. I was riding though. Swimming was the worst. As far as sleep, the best tip I got was to sleep in a recliner and use pillows to prop yourself to become more comfortable. I feel for ya man!

When I have broken ribs at the bottom of my rib cage about 2 weeks to go easy/moderate, a little more for top end stuff, particularly running. When I have broken ribs up top it has been longer-last time was 4 weeks to easy, 2 full months before any hard work could be done. Good luck!

How do you know you broke ribs? It can be serious and if so you better get it checked out.

A couple of years ago I had a wreck, broke 4 ribs and separated a should, 9 weeks prior to my target IM. Hurt like the dickens!!! However, I "floated" in the pool the very next day, a little water running later that week, and on the trainer easy spinning by the next weekend. It continued to hurt - really badly at times right up to and through the race, but I had a great performance. Interestingly, I think the rest helped AND race day is a pain management day so the regular pain of racing really wasn't as bad (if that makes sense).

I go 2 calls right after my wreck - 1 from a multi-time pro IM champion and the other from a Euro-pro cyclist - their combined advice: 1) do not gain weight . . . they've seen it a million times . . . due to the combination of inactivity/less activity and recovery depression folks tend to gain weight. I was very careful and actually lost weight. And, 2) I had 35 + years of consistent training and fitness - they stressed that I need to recover and trust that the base fitness will bounce back. It did.

Hang in there and best wishes,

PS - I can STILL feel one spot on my ribs 2 years later.

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David
* Ironman for Life! (Blog) * IM Everyday Hero Video * Daggett Shuler Law *
Disclaimer: I have personal and professional relationships with many athletes, vendors, and organizations in the triathlon world.

I've broken ribs on a couple of occasions. From memory it takes about 6 weeks for them to be properly healed. The pain tends to get worse for the fist 10 days and then starts to get better. Somewhere around 3 weeks+ was a sort of tipping point that they started to feel a lot better and I could gradually start to run and swim. Right now I would imagine the pain is pretty horrible, but when it starts to get better it gets better pretty quick. Just gauge how much you can do by the pain. Your ribs should be fine to race IMWI but depending on how much training you miss, you might not be in top condition. You never know, the extra rest might be just what you need to have a great race. Or if you can't get a refund, use the swim and bike as a catered training session for IMFL.

If you need to cough or sneeze, tightly hugging a pillow or cushion to your chest helps a lot.

Good Luck.

Will

Have cracked ribs 3 or4 times. Though haven't always had x-rays, so may not always have been a fracture, could have been bad bruising and/or strained intercostal muscles. From the docs/PTs/osteos I've spoken to the exact diagnosis doesn't make a lot of difference since there's not much you can do to treat them anyway other than letting time do it's thing.

My experience has generally been that I can do gentle trainer work pretty quickly, then outdoor riding, then swimming after a couple of weeks, and running maybe a week or 2 after that. I'd expect to be back at full throttle on all sports within a month. I let pain be my guide - a bit of discomfort is OK, severe or stabbing pain is probably a sign I'm doing something I shouldn't be. And for that reason, I don't mix the painkillers and training - I'll take painkillers for the first few days after an accident when I'm resting up, but I'll stop taking them before I get back into training to make sure I don't overdo it.

Good luck!

Thanks this is helpful. It sounds like a good 3 weeks is when I can start to run and swim again. Hopefully sooner but I'm not going to rush anything. I can transfer to IMFL with the IM NA transfer policy. This gives me 15 weeks. I needed a rest period anyways so I'm hoping this will be a good thing. I'm going to focus on losing some weight since it's easier when not fueling for high performance. I have 10-15lbs that I need to lose.

I talked to some of the doctors at work and they didn't seem too concerned. They said just rest and let it heal. It's day #8 post injury and I'm about the same. Sleeping is a nightmare. I just can't get comfortable and getting out of bed hurts. I get some serious stabbing pain when I move certain ways. The funny thing is I felt good day #5 but feel worse today. Luckily biking doesn't bother me one bit (if I don't do Vo2 stuff). Thank god because I would be going crazy right now. I'm already irritated and depressed from the pain and lack of mobility.

How long did everyone take pain meds for? I'm still taking ibuprofen 3x day. I hate taking it but it does help a ton. I'm wondering if I should have had stronger stuff.

I broke my rib last year in a bike crash during IM Boulder. I was back on the bike in a few days and swimming not long after that but it was a 2-3 weeks before running was possible at all and a few more before it stopped hurting altogether.


My father-in-law is an orthopedic surgeon and he said that basically there is nothing to be done except let it heal. He said if it did not heal in 8 weeks (or something like that) then surgery may be required.

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
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I am a doctor, but I don't have x-ray vision..

I've broken my ribs, at least 3 different times. Twice from falls on the bike with multiple rib fractures, one that needed a nerve block to make it through my work day the next day. Once, two were displaced and I could feel them moving, very disconcerting...

4-6 weeks is a good timeline, but it's variable. Fortunately, you are able to still breathe ok, so it is unlikely you have a pneumothorax, otherwise you'd have visited the ER prior to now. During one of my stints, I was in marathon training and I could run lightly within about 2-3 weeks, holding my arms just perfectly and keeping light on my feet. Once, I was able to swim at about 4 weeks, during IM training, but that was silly and I thought I needed it, but it just delayed my true healing. As I recall, cycling was one of the first things that came back to me and I was on the bike each time within about 2 weeks.

You will be back to training, sooner than you think, but it will seem longer than it was. We constantly push our bodies and occasionally the training or trauma results in injury and you just must make time to heal. I'd recommend walking on the TM with incline to maintain maximal fitness possible along with cycling, as you can, but do not go into tempo where you constantly take lots of big, deep breaths as this will move the ribs too much to allow healing. It's important to be the least stressful on the ribcage as possible and taking big/deep breaths will still hurt and delay healilng. Sleeping is a nightmare for weeks, and may last forever, just much less painful and only on rare occasions when you move/sleep in a bad position. To this day, I'll still sleep on my stomach and occasionally get a sharp pain from those d*mn ribs when I lay the wrong way.

You must decide if you need additional pain meds. We now live in a world where narcotic meds are extremely regulated and frowned upon. Rib pain is significant, but they will likely want to document your fracture(s) with an x-ray.

You decide the next step. Good luck in your healing and your training.

Thanks this was helpful. I was able to get a good nights sleep last night. It seems like things are starting to improve. It's funny how one day can make a difference. I was on the bike the next day after crash. I've been bike 2 hrs everyday since. It almost seems like I can swim before I could run. But sounds like it will be 4 weeks before I can run and swim?