Jim, I have not broken ribs before so I don.t know how it feels. However I know about Lisa Bentley, who had a freek accident while being fitted for a new bike. See below, but remember she is a professional, with lots of support who relies on racing to pay her bills.
"And then, came the crash of 2003! I had a freak bike accident and broke four ribs and my elbow. My first thought when I crashed was that I would have to miss my bike, run and swim workout the next day. Little did I know that I would have to miss all running and swimming for about 3 weeks! If 2003 taught me anything it was that I have a lot less control over life than I thought I did. But, 2003 also taught me to fight back and do everything possible to heal and so, I vowed to become the best athlete with four broken ribs and a broken elbow! Everyday, I went for a very specialized physiotherapy modality called Frequency Specific Microcurrent (FSM) with Dr. Galea. It is used to increase blood flow and healing to the soft tissue. I also went to my regular brilliant physiotherapist, Steve Hill, in order to maintain as much muscular strength as possible, to help me with breathing exercises for my ribs and mobility exercises for my elbow. Some days, I would drive for an hour for FSM therapy and then go to see Steve Hill for his one-on-one treatment. I supplemented both of these with weekly acupuncture and Active Release Therapy (ART) with Dr. Scapaticci. Meanwhile, I maintained as much aerobic fitness as possible by cycling on my Computrainer once or twice each day. Most people would say “the rest will do you good”. I’d like to know when I rested, because as far as I could tell, healing is twice as much work as training!
I actually did not know that my arm and ribs were broken until the fifth day after the accident. I was in a tremendous amount of pain - breathing, coughing, laying down, sitting and general moving around. But, I was determined not to give into the accident and I actually rode my Computrainer the day after the accident and then proceeded to ride it everyday, twice per day until that dreaded Friday when Dr. Galea sent me for x-rays. Gulp! I guess we can all conclude now that I have a very high pain tolerance.
The next two to three weeks were uncomfortable, but I maintained my aerobic base by cycling everyday. After three weeks, I could float in the pool, so I started to do kick sets. I also began running in the water. And then, in that third week, I started to run on land. That was painful - very painful. The marathon will seem so easy now after that horrific 20-minute first run session. But, everytime I ran after that, it got better and better until I was running pain-free at about 4 weeks. That was around the same time that I started to do drills in the pool. Somedays, I did 5 workouts - bike, run on land for a short time, water run for the remainder of the run workout, swim drills and kick and then a second bike workout. Remind me how these broken bones were “good for me”.
At 5 weeks, I was able to swim, bike and run. My swimming was limited to easy swimming and drills, but I was so happy to be a “triathlete” again. At this time, I had told the race directors in Chile that I would have to miss the Pucon Half Ironman - a race that I had won in 2002 and 2003. Lance Watson, my coach, and Steve Hill and I had decided that to race it would risk compensatory injuries especially since I had not been able to do core stability exercises for 5 weeks and my running form depends on a strong core. But on that Sunday of that 5th week, I did a 5 hour Computrainer bike workout with some intensity and a run off of the bike and I decided that I needed to race in Chile for “me”. It would be my reward for maintaining my fitness against all odds It would be my reward for being a champion healer. Lance agreed and we decided that I would race Chile as a fitness builder and winning it would be completely secondary."