so went to the doc last night and the difference i feel in the rib cages is actually the broken rib. he wanted me to get an xray but i couldn’t see the cost aspect when we already know it is broken. he wanted to know if the pieces lined up or not - but from what i read there is nothing medically done for a broken rib, right?
so running hurts like hell for about 2 km and then i can go slow. swim takes me about 1500 m to realize i’m not going to die. bike was fine on Sunday (injury date) but today we’ll see just how bad it is now as every day i have more and more pain. hiccuped last night and thought i was going to lose my mind.
so anything i should NOT do? IM is in less than 2 weeks. i have a 5-hour bike ride planned this weekend and had planned 30 min daily runs this week and then a couple next. swim daily. could i make it worse? should i do nothing? pain is definitely limiting activity - hell just holding my stomach in hurts (looks down at belly…)
Don’t sneeze! Seriously, hurts like hell. Broke or cracked one back in October. Couldn’t do much except the elliptical and water running for about 2 weeks. Back to normal in around 3 weeks. Good luck!
No shit on sneezing. When I broke a couple last year for about 2 weeks sneezing would almost bring me to my knees. Coughing isn’t very pleasant either but not quite as bad as the sneeze.
I fractured the entire left side of my rib cage in a July bike crash.
The sneeze and cough were the worst.
I still can’t sleep well on my left side.
Just try not to kill yourself to push through the pain.
Don’t take painkillers either !
you guys are funny. i am so far able to stifle the sneezing and keep it from developing into a full sneeze. coughing i just don’t do or only very very mildly cough. hiccup about took me to heaven. could not stifle that puppy. all those are expected but geez, i never knew my chest could hurt so bad farting or taking a poop.
I’ll answer your question with three other questions.
How much are you going to get paid to do the IM in 2 weeks with a broken rib?
Are you going to enjoy your race if you compete with a broken rib?
Is not letting your rib heal properly worth it in the long term?
As long as you don’t crash again, it will not impact the healing. My experience is that healing goes faster with training&racing, might be I just get faster used to the pain.
If you can stand the pain - do whatever you like.
I’d be ROTFL if it didn’t still hurt a bit … Kathy, you’re supposed to do as I SAY, not as I DO don’t race with weird tropical diseases or just plain old common injuries it’s true that there’s nothing for a broken rib but time, but if the the fracture is messy (not a simple crack), through the entire rib, and/or yes the edges don’t line up well, doing anything beyond normal daily activities could result in some really bad soft tissue damage, worst case scenario (and it does happen) is you puncture a lung.
There are a number of real risks you’re taking in doing the IM then, but you can use your Google Fu as well as I do. When I broke a rib at IMNZ I was fully prepared to do Melbourne 3 weeks later if I could get a spot. So I get you. In many ways.
Right now I’m in week 5 healing from 2 broken ribs and 1 bruised one (the bruised one is actually worse and healing more slowly but anyways) at IMWA. That happened on the bike course and I went onto the run course knowing that was probably the case. In the end I just couldn’t move fast enough through the pain to make the last lap cutoff.
Understanding and accepting the risks, then it pretty much comes down to training (or in your case, a very long training day … race) as tolerable. Don’t expect to have a decent taper; don’t try to race anywhere near the ability you’ve shown before or trained for this time. Take it as mind-numbingly easy and low-intensity as possible to get through the race on time (with extra for flats or other contingencies) and you will probably make it.
As you said yourself, the pain will be the limiting factor. Just know that the more and longer you exert yourself, the more likely you’ll end up with a (even nastier than a broken rib) complication.
You know I wish you all the best and I’m the same kind of nuts.
try taping them. My husband broke his 3 weeks out and was fine. He just kept taping them-at night so he could sleep, before bike. But you are right-time to taper.
Swim daily? With a broken rib? You have a far higher pain threshold than the average person if you can manage that
yeah, from everything i’ve read on the internet the pain i’m experiencing says it isn’t broken adn the doctor is wrong but i do have a very loose rib that seems to have a part missing compared to the other side. i’m starting to think i might get the xray but with no melena or blood anywhere else i don’t think i have internal injuries and dr google seems to think xrays are not needed for most rib pain.
it isn’t easy swimming but running is the hardest. after yesterday i just might stop all together. it is incredibly painful and now i have pain all the time (dull aching) in addition to the sharp spasms i only used to get…
between dr google and all the other threads i dredged up on this forum, most people say rest but there is a sizable contingent saying let the pain be your guide. so very confuddling.
I worked through a set of bruised ribs last summer but my problem was the opposite, I couldn’t swim well but bike/run were OK and I just sucked it up for the swims. I’m not sure I would have done the same for an IM marathon
I guess worst case is you DNF. No harm in that and you might surprise yourself.
holy moley artichokey! what is it with us? That is too freaky for words! well i havent had the chuk disease yet (crosses fingers) so there is that.
holey crap! you did the run after rib breakage? WOW! that is some serious badassery cred there. did it get worse before it got better for you? i’m thinking about getting an xray just to make sure the ends line up since there is a big deformity on that side of my chest.
it is weird no? Sunday is when i broke and i did a 10k run later that afternoon but each and every day the running has been getting more and more painful to the point that i’m about ready to stop. maybe just walking now…
again, thanks for your experience. how about we have an unevenful summer?
FWIW and for the future rib broken suffering people, Ardosons (betamethasone, indomethacin, and methocarbomol) has made a HUGE dent in my pain level. Course I went from no meds to this so YMMV with paracetamol, NSDAIDs, etc. I mean the pain is still very much there but the level has come down and I can’t wait to see what happens when I swim today (pain wise).
not sure if you can get it in the US.
tonight i found that with this medication i’m now able to fully inhale my daily asthma medication. tonight was the first time in almost a week i was able to inhale the med deeply. sweeeeet…
Don’t sneeze! Seriously, hurts like hell. Broke or cracked one back in October. Couldn’t do much except the elliptical and water running for about 2 weeks. Back to normal in around 3 weeks. Good luck!
Back to normal in 3 weeks? I have broke my ribs, took 6 month to be back to normal. I was doing a lot of stuff a few month out, but it was not back to normal for about 6 months…
you guys are funny. i am so far able to stifle the sneezing and keep it from developing into a full sneeze. coughing i just don’t do or only very very mildly cough. hiccup about took me to heaven. could not stifle that puppy. all those are expected but geez, i never knew my chest could hurt so bad farting or taking a poop.
** i guess i should be tapering now anyway… :)**
Tapering your fitness or your poop? I highly recommend tapering the poop…otherwise your asshole will slam shut…
it’s true that there’s nothing for a broken rib but time, but if the the fracture is messy (not a simple crack), through the entire rib, and/or yes the edges don’t line up well, doing anything beyond normal daily activities could result in some really bad soft tissue damage, worst case scenario (and it does happen) is you puncture a lung.