Broke at least one rib last Sunday while mountain biking.
I have an Xterra race on 07/26 (don’t care much about this one) and Steelhead on 08/02. Doctor has cleared me to race and train if I feel up to it and use good judgement. Would like to be back in the saddle this weekend for a short ride and run.
Anyone else broken a rib or two and tried to come back quickly? Thoughts and advice appreciated on recovery and healing time.
four to six weeks. pain probably subsiding around the end of fourth week. as you already must know, turning over/getting out of bed is the worst. along with the rest of your daily activities, you’ll learn adaptive/avoidance movements quickly, which should decrease the moments of wild pain engagement.
i hope i don’t sound like i’m minimizing the pain and annoyance, because i found it to be major. but in a month or more you’ll be back to normal. i hope your recovery goes well.
peggy
What he said, I feel for you, I had a bruised rib, took 4 days off of running and doc gave me vicoprofen which made the pain tolerable. Good luck
I broke a rib when I was 20yo undergraduate and as I recall the pain wasn’t too bad for about the first month but there was still pain every time I coughed, sneezed, or laughed for about 6 months. Recently (April 4), I had open heart surgery and my sternum was split and the pain was minimal except for the coughing, sneezing and laughing which lasted about a month. I guess I have HTFU’ed.
I’ve had two broken ribs, recovery for me was about 4 weeks. Hardest part was sleeping comfortably, getting in/out of bed, and coughing or sneezing.
Broke at least one rib last Sunday while mountain biking.
I have an Xterra race on 07/26 (don’t care much about this one) and Steelhead on 08/02. Doctor has cleared me to race and train if I feel up to it and use good judgement. Would like to be back in the saddle this weekend for a short ride and run.
Anyone else broken a rib or two and tried to come back quickly? Thoughts and advice appreciated on recovery and healing time.
Two years ago I cracked at least a couple of ribs in a hockey game. Had all the usual problems listed by others for 3-4 weeks and then pain subsided, so I joined my team for its game. First time into the boards it hurt like a motherfucker, so be wary of pushing even when it starts to feel that much better.
Of course at the time I was 39 yo, and in my limited experience (n=1) my recovery times for things like this have lengthened as I have aged.
Good news is that your body will let you know if you are pushing too hard. Good luck.
Paul
Thanks for all the advice, sounds like my pain/experience to date has been pretty normal.
Plan to ease back into things and see what happens.
Most broken bones or fractures take 6-8 weeks to heal. You can help it by getting enough calcium - 500mg 3x a day (you can’t absorb more than that at once and more than 1500mg total can start causing other problems).
have never broken a rib but I’ve had plenty of other broken bones. They hurt! sending you ((((hugs)))) and wishes for speedy healing.
I cracked two ribs the day before Timberman a few years ago. The beginning of the swim hurt quite a bit, but after that I did not even notice it. After the race I had some pain, though.
On December 17th I fell on a fence while ice skating and broke three ribs. It hurt. It took about five months total for it to start feeling normal on a minute-to-minute basis but it still hurt if I laid on that side. When I asked my doctor how long it would take to heal he just laughed and said, “Oh,… months…”
He was right. Training was quite uncomfortable and I was 17 days into the 100 run challenge. You haven’t lived until you’ve run at least ahalf hour a day with three broken ribs. Swimming was absolutely out of the question for about eight weeks. I could ride the Computrainer slowly but breathing was the tough part.
It has been 8 days now. Took everyone’s advice and took the week/weekend off from anything physical, despite the urge to do something.
Tried to ride yesterday and felt like I had an elbow in my rib cage. Guess that is normal.
Plan to see what this week brings but hope to run/ride by midweek.
even 8 days out, don’t be surprised if it gets worse before it gets better.
i’ve had bruised ribs a few times, never broken - but when i’ve had it, it didn’t really hurt when it happened. 1 week later, i would feel a sneeze coming on and my heart would fill with dread. (sometimes i would even take a claritin in the morning, just in case)
these things drag on.