Had an accident on the bike, crashed into a car and fell to the ground, injuring my chest. I suffered from a collapsed lung, although no ribs were broken. Is there anyone with any inspiring experiences or advice on how to recover from this?
I spent three days in a hospital, where they sucked air out of my lung sac until the lung was filled with air and stuck onto the wall of the lung sac.
Doctors had varied opinions on when I could resume training. One said a week. One said a month without heavy breathing. Anyone with an opinion?
I´m also curious, since all the doctors said the injury will not hamper future performance. That’s what I like to think, remembering Jeff Hackett winning the olympic 1500 m free style with a collapsed lung, not to mention petra majdic winning an olympic bronze in the xc ski sprint last year with a collapsed lung and several broken ribs.,
Mine was at the same time as broken ribs, so I was on a six week timetable. No effect on performance once everything was healed.
I broke several ribs and also had a hemothorax at the same time when I had my pneumothorax (fell off a horse) - so I can’t really speak to how long it will take to recover from a pneumothorax by itself. But - it was a few years ago and I don’t have any lingering effects. I’d listen to your body, but expect a full recovery. I wasn’t doing tri’s then, but I was back on a horse 6 weeks after the accident (and I was in the trauma unit in the hospital with a chest tube for 10 days), and back to galloping a horse cross country within 3 months or so.
You will recover with no ill effects. Interestingly you had no broken ribs but suffered a pneumo. Depending on how much chest wall pain you have, it will likely take 4-6 weeks before all of the pleuritic pain (pain on inspiration) goes away. The pneumo won’t be a big deal since you had a chest tube with reexpansion, your hurdle will be how much pleuritic pain you have and for how long. 4-6 weeks is typical and it can be a b*tch.
Two years ago I was in a pileup in the town limit sprint at our local Tuesday night world championship. I was the one guy in the pileup who ended up in the hospital – two broken ribs and a collapsed lung. Had the chest tube and all. Was released from the hospital that Friday. The following Friday, the doc released me to begin some training, but urged me to take it easy.
Long story short, three weeks and a day after my release from the hospital, I won my age group at a tough, hilly, 19 mile time trial.
(And two weeks after that, I herniated a disc in my back and the rest of my season was pretty much crap … but not because of the lung thing.)
I definitely lost some lung function after my double stabbing, but I’m pretty sure that was because the lung filled up with blood which subsequently had to be removed with a chest drain. I think you’ll be OK, just give yourself time to heal. The body is a pretty miraculously self-healing machine but getting back and trying to train too early will just interfere. Best of luck.
Follow the advice above - listen to your body and don’t push beyond what feels ok, don’t take any risks with this.
I started triathlons about 20 years ago because I had a pneumothorax from a MTB fall.
Started riding again too soon and had 2 relapses - in the end they did a pleurodesis operation to fix it, you want to avoid this.
The physio said do symmetric, aerobic sports so I started tris.
Did I say don’t push it?
You really don’t want to relapse and have more operations…
bad luck. Just sending (((hugs))).
I had a similar thing, although with a sternal fracture, rib fractures and a separated shoulder. This happened on a Thursday. I was out of the hospital on Sunday and on a recumbent Lifecycle at the gym on Tuesday–for an hour. The next day, I was on it for 2 hours.
(Due to the rib and shoulder injuries, I couldn’t get on a bike for another week and that was on a trainer with the front end a foot off the ground. I was holding on to the stem with my uninjured arm. The shoulder and rib injuries made running and swimming impossible for 5-6 weeks.)
thanks for your answers,encouraging examples,hugs and warnings.I feel better today than yesterday,but hopefully not as good as I’ll feel tomorrow 
I have tried walking,and it seems ok.it relieves my back pains and fatigue which probably has much to do with just being inactive and mostly lying in a bed.yesterday,just wandered around for some four hours.today,I put a heart rate monitor on and walked briskly some three four hours with a pulse of 100-120.thought that I might try the static bike tomorrow,just easy spinning.
it doesn’hurt when I walk,much.it hurts when I take deep breaths,and talking loudly,coughing or spitting(!) produces some discomfort.all sudden movement hurts.wouldn’t imagine running.it’s very painful to stand up and getting out of bed is horror,not just because I like sleep.
I have a checkup one month from now.before that,they basically told me to come see the doc if I get difficulties breathing.just don’t precisely know what is normal pain and what’s not,guess I’ll know if the lung collapses again.
I had a similiar injury many (20+) years ago, the result of a wreck on a velodrome, but with the added complication of the lung collapsing again when they removed the chest tube a few days later. The day after I had the new one put in, the doctor brought a stationary bike into my room and told me to ride it a couple of times a day. Besides moving close to the bed so I could reach it with my pneumovac and the tube attached to the wall, I spent 15-20 minutes 2 or 3 times a day on the bike just turning the pedals. After 3-4 days, the tube came out and I went home. I was riding full time back then, so I felt I had to get out there, so I rode 40 miles that very day, and was completely wiped out (no kidding, right? I was young). I backed off and gradually worked up the mileage. When it came to discomfort, my biggest problem was the broken clavicle, honestly. 3 weeks after my release from the hospital, I rode a 56 minute 40k, which at the time was perhap slower than I though I would go without injury, but the amount of fitness I retained was quite good when I thought about it. Now, this was before I ran and swam as part of my training, so I have no idea how that would have worked out.
I was also 22 years old (not a small consideration)
Good luck, and heal up.
interesting,the static bike in your room.and quite amazing, going for a ride the same day you got out of the hospital(they actually told me light exercise would be all right,but I cautioned them that a triathlete may have a different view on the concept of “light exercise”.I am a bit puzzled though,have fatigued I am.totally trashed.of course,lost some blood too, but still.
The nurses practically pitched a fit, but the doctor told them to shut up (literally, and she could yell!). My coach at the time scolded me for the ride after being released, and actually dialed me back quite a bit. He was sure if I kept on going I would drive myself under. The fact that he was right didn’t make it any easier. My level of activity turned out to be “light” for what I was doing at the time (maybe 50% of total volume, and nothing anaerobic at all), and I stayed away from rough roads and groups until my clavicle (and my fitness) felt up to it. I am convinced that the light activity in the hospital made my recovery easier, but the fatigue I was experiencing just after coming home could have been a killer if I didn’t give myself at least a little chance of recovering. The fatigue is to be expected. Respect it, listening to your body will help you return to your prior levels faster. Good luck!
ok,I read your warning/inspiring example and had to repeat your mistake.just to check.rode the stationary at a local gym.yup.exhausted just spinning.totally trashed afterwards.feels like I run out of breath (surprise), and I felt like dying when I started talking to someone next to me. still, it doesn’t hurt breathing - except when taking deep breaths and expanding my chest.and I’m not experiencing any difficulties breathing while resting,just that I unconsciously avoid taking deep breaths. perhaps time will heal the wounds.I’m just so lousy at this having patience thing.
I know you didn’t ask, but if you happen to be a scuba diver, be sure to have a very frank discussion with a doctor before deciding to dive again. Pneumothorax and scuba are a bad mix. http://scuba-doc.com/spntpnu.htm
yeah,thanks, I heard that one.and no flying for a month or so,apparently.guess I won’t be taking a PAD license, then.
suffered some setback with a bad flu last week.that was why I felt like shit on the stationary bike - I was coming down with a flu,cough and all.
began riding the bike trainer last friday,two weeks after the drain was removed.tired easily,otherwise ok.
had an x-ray today and everything was allright.doc said I should take it easily,but it’s ok with aerobic training as long as I listen to my body.I hope my strength will return soon.
I’m in a bit of a different boat, since my early 20’s I’ve had “spontaneous” lung collapses. I’ve lost count but in total I think I’ve had six to eight collapses. The treatment I’ve had for these collapses has varied from no treatment at all (extremely painful), going home from the hospital for a week with a chest tube (also extremely painful) to full on surgery.
Even in my case, being prone to collapsed lungs there hasn’t been any affect on performance and have been able to get back to training after a couple of weeks. The ONLY think I’ve been told to avoid is scuba diving and that’s just because there isn’t any room for error in that environment.
I’d say follow your doctors suggestions but don’t worry too much about ongoing issues or having to wait an extended amount of time before you can start training seriously again.
Travis
When I was 17 I had my first case of Spontaneous Pneumothorax. I was at a party just sitting down, I started to feel a loss of breath and a feeling of getting stabbed in the back. I thought I had just pulled something. Ended up going to the hospital that night and was told my lung collapsed. They said it was common in tall skinny people. I had 2 more after that when I was in my early 20’s, but none in the last several years. I’m 28 now. I haven’t lost any lung capacity and I don’t worry about it happening again. I was back to being active a few weeks after each collapse.
Tall thin folks can get a recurrent spontaneous pneumothorax. For the very frequent fliers, if they have blebs up at the top of the lungs (the apex) you can staple across them to get rid of the succeptable tissue that keeps “popping”. Alternatively you can do a pleurodesis where you either mechanically scrape the lining of the chest wall on the inside and/or put in talc so that the lung scars up to the chest wall and cannot collapse. Not pretty, and potentially detrimental to you Kona aspirations, but a pneumothorax that progesses to a tension pneumothorax (air builds up in the chest cavity ultimately squeezing on the heart and other lungs) can be life threatening.