Rest and get through it. I had two broken ribs plus a partial pneumothorax years ago (plus a broken clavicle that required surgery). The ribs made it difficult to get comfortable (never mind sleeping) but also for simple things that you would normally take for granted like getting dressed or sneezing. I think I was about 2-3 weeks before getting on the trainer.

Heal well and rest up. Best of luck!

---

"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

I broke 3 a couple.seasons ago. It hurt a lot but I was able to get back on the mrb on a trainer after a couple of weeks and was riding slowly and carefully in cyclocross races after about a month. It wasn't a great season

I've fractured ribs 3,4 IDK maybe 5x + bruised 1x.

The bruised ribs hurt for about 5 weeks.
1 fracture of 2-3 ribs stopped bothering me in 3d, another 3 weeks, the other time around a month.

A lot of it is going to depend where you've fractured and how many.

heal quickly!

---

Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

7 broken ribs in 2015. I wasn’t even able to sleep in my own bed lying down for like 4 weeks. Slept in a rented recliner in the living room (also punctured lung and clavicle break requiring surgery)

Pain was there a good 12 weeks
Good luck

Sleep in a recliner, keep using your pain pills for a few days. even when you feel like getting on the trainer, as soon as your breathing labors some you will get off. It will take some time, enjoy the time off.

As others have said.... sneezes are the worst

I only had one fractured and it hurt like a bitch. 20 days before I could ride (easy) and 30 before I could run. Swimming was out for like 40 days...that really hurt.

The broken ribs cure: time and suffering.

Fractured and bruised ribs can hurt a lot, for a long time, but it varies a lot too. I had multiple rib injuries and sleeping and sneezing are indeed the worst, as is getting up in the morning!
What you can do largely depends on how much pain you can tolerate. If it's just bruised, or cracked but not displaced, than pain is usually the limiter, as long as you can tolerate the pain, than it's OK to do. Cycling on a trainer, possibly with an adjusted position, can be possible quite quickly is my experience. Walking up a steep incline on a treadmill or stepping machine too was possible quite quickly, long before I even considered running again. Swimming, for me, was always the last thing I could do again.

I just broke some being stupid on my bike a week ago. . . Didn't realize the extent of it until i sneezed 3 days later and thought i was being stabbed and going to pass out. I can't get up if I am laying down. I have a high pain tolerance and also phobia i guess of doctors so I don't/will not typically go unless I am coughing, shitting, or pissing blood so I dont know the extent, but it feels like they are broke or fractured in two places on my left side. One is like the front under my sternum and the other is left of my pectoral under my arm. No problems breathing and I can take deep breaths so I am not worried about a puncture or collapsed lung. I just cant move faster than a sloth pace, support my weight, or really do anything that involves activating my core.

I tried to jog to a soccer ball and was filled with sharp pain then made the mistake (it was worth it) of having sex lol. I didnt feel a thing during, but after the glory I was doubled over in pain for 15 minutes with tunnel vision and now feel as if i will never get to be active again :-/

Bought a case of beer to ease my soul and to ride it out. Just wanted to add to the broke rib experience.

---

Use this link to save $5 off your USAT membership renewal:
https://membership.usatriathlon.org/...A2-BAD7-6137B629D9B7

I've broken ribs twice; both times involving a mailbox

I agree with everyone above

---

"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Ditto... bike crash, fractured collarbone & 5 ribs (L side). Was able to get on the indoor trainer on day 7 for 15 mins, and start building back up. Now day 30 / week 4, and still only doing indoor training, and arm mobility (and some leaf raking, uggh).

I bought a back sleeping pillow and dedicated to sleeping that way. I couldn’t roll on my side to sleep. Then put pillows beside me to stop rolling at night.

Trainer on day 2. Super slow and easy. Then ramp it up from there.

Not horrible for face planting at 35mph in a sprint. I would say it gave me something else to focus on pain wise to Zwift while healing.

September, 2005, a Ford Ranger turned left in front of me and sent me and my Litespeed over the hood and through his windshield. Impact fractured my helmet in 12 places. Knocked me unconscious, with four fractured ribs, comminuted fracture of my Scapula, can't remember number of sutures, and left ear tinnitus that is occurring even now.

Ribs were all R-side, L-Scapula. My shoulder specialist had played football for the University of Michigan. My appointment was scheduled 8 days after the crash. When I informed him that I too had played college and professional football, and had followed it with 10 years of multi-sport, he required that I immediately remove the sling for good, and head upstairs for PT "now". He stated that nothing I do to the ribs and shoulder in therapy or on my bike will do any more damage. Progress will be made depending upon how much pain I could endure. I proceeded upstairs. Cried through an hour of shoulder work, and road biked 25miles the next day. I swam 14 days after crash. I built upon that until scheduled PT began to interfere with scheduled swims.

I did follow through with every PT session with a badass PTst. everything was physically normal in 12 weeks. I think it would have been shorter w/o the Scapula. Ribs are no big deal. They just hurt. And if you can deal with hurt, you'll be good soon.

The PTSD I went through is another story. :)

Not ribs but I've been nursing a fractured vertebra for about a year now. I tried the whole staying away from activities that exacerbate it and letting it heal on its own thing. I've gone to a bunch of doctors from my general practitioner to a neurosurgeon. I've had 2 MRIs, 2 CT scans, a whole slew of x-rays... It seems that everyone agrees something needs to be done but none of the doctors thinks they should be the one to fix it. The neuro says it's the ortho, the ortho says it's pain management, pain management says it won't work for an unhealed fracture and I should talk to neuro...
Even though it's much heavier than my carbon seatpost, I recently switched to a Redshift Shockstop... I still have a bit of pain but it's gotten me back on bikes again... I gave the thing a whole year to heal and it didn't, I'm not going to waste another day driving around DC going to different specialists who keep saying it's someone else who should be looking at it. I've had to just get back to doing the things I love. If it's not going to heal it's not going to heal. If I have to be in pain I have to be in pain...

It took me a month for just 1 rib. Sleeping was damn hard, coughing and sneezing was death.

It'll take about a month. Do things that make you breath deep to keep that lung tissue healthy. Get an incentive spirometer and some lidocaine patches. Sleep in whatever position is the most comfortable. Most people like being propped up.