So I was doing my usual core workout this weekend at the gym and something got pulled the wrong way. I exerted too hard, not really sure what happened but I felt something tear or pop. I woke up on Monday morning with stabbing pain in my right side rib cage. It hurts to walk, breath, open doors, you get the picture. It basically feels like a knife is plunging into my rib cage. Strangely enough the only thing I can do pain free is ride on the trainer in the aero position, can’t swim, and definitely can’t run. Any solutions or suggestions here to speed the recovery? I have my first race in 11 days.
You probably pulled or strained an intercostal muscle. Unfortunately there really isn’t anything you can do other than anti-inflammatories and maybe an icepack. Sometimes localized pressure will relieve some of the pain but that’s usually only for fractures. It sucks though, there is very little you can do that doesn’t use those muscles. I once bruised damn near all of mine in a fall and it was almost a week before I could put a t-shirt on without help, and over two before I could walk without pain.
I would say go get it checked, there’s a minor possibility you self-induced a pnemothorax which is incredibly dangerous. It’s also more common among endurance athletes. Depending on the rib you could have also dislocated the rib, though you would likely know already if that was the case (because you’d be in vomit inducing pain until it got fixed).
I did this once; pain was brutal and unfortunately lasted for weeks; google intercostal muscle ; not much to do except rest, Advil, ice etc. If your pull was as bad as mine, racing in 11 days would be impossible-severe pain seriously lasted 4-6 weeks
Done this twice. Time to start tapering, dude. #nohope
I agree with the others. Sounds like a pulled intercostal muscle. I’ve done it quite a few times myself. Hurts like hell and takes a few weeks to heal. Stick with your race plan and I think you’ll be fine.
So I was doing my usual core workout this weekend at the gym and something got pulled the wrong way. I exerted too hard, not really sure what happened but I felt something tear or pop. I woke up on Monday morning with stabbing pain in my right side rib cage. It hurts to walk, breath, open doors, you get the picture. It basically feels like a knife is plunging into my rib cage. Strangely enough the only thing I can do pain free is ride on the trainer in the aero position, can’t swim, and definitely can’t run. Any solutions or suggestions here to speed the recovery? I have my first race in 11 days.
No way to diagnose here. I had horrible pain like you describe, and when I went to my chiropractor (for something else), she said I had a rib popped out and she could see it through my shirt.
Popped it back in made my pain about 30-40% better instantly, and the rest took about a month to go away.
Massage helps tremendously. I did something similar to you about 2 years ago and it hurt for weeks. Mine was right under the pectoral muscle, so it basically immobilized my right arm. Sneezing was one of the worst experiences in my life.
Go to a massage therapist/chiropractor and they can help, but it takes a while and it hurts.
I’ve also strained a rib muscle. It took a couple of weeks before I could normally do things (even turning my head to go in reverse driving hurt). Was being stupid and on my 13 day in a row weight training and something shifted wrong doing a leg press machine that had a little play in it.
FYI, sneezes are scary with this injury too…avoid laughing as that is pretty painful also.
I don’t have high hopes you can race in 11 days but maybe you might get lucky.
I did this once; pain was brutal and unfortunately lasted for weeks; google intercostal muscle ; not much to do except rest, Advil, ice etc. If your pull was as bad as mine, racing in 11 days would be impossible-severe pain seriously lasted 4-6 weeks
Unless you’re Chrissie Wellington, who raced a week after pulling hers in 2011.
I have exercised through a lot of pain in my life and had over a dozen surgeries. This was as bad as it gets. Obviously the severity will be different for everyone but I couldn’t breathe, laugh, turn, cough without excruciating pain let alone try to SBR. After one awkward moment lifting my child I collapsed to the floor in pain. I Guess if it’s less severe, pressing on is always possible but I can assure you that racing would not have been possible in my state
Hopefully you don’t have a gruntter the next visit to the bathroom.
No way to diagnose here. I had horrible pain like you describe, and when I went to my chiropractor (for something else), she said I had a rib popped out and she could see it through my shirt.
Popped it back in made my pain about 30-40% better instantly, and the rest took about a month to go away.
I’m not sure what a “popped rib” really is, but apparently I do it all the time. I go see my ART chiro, he works his magic, and I’m back at it the next day.
Thanks for all the feedback. It’s looking like I’m going to have to shut things down for a while. I was feeling a little bit better today and tried to swim and run on the treadmill, but it just wasn’t happening. It’s a damn shame cause I busted my ass all winter long and was really in top shape going into the season. Hopefully I can resume training in time to be competitive at Columbia in May and Eagleman in June.
Just my 2 cents.
I had something similar to that, and it ended up being a spontaneously punctured lung. It happens sometimes to perfectly healthy people, particularly tall, skinny men under 40.
You probably don’t have it. Just pointing it out because walking around with a collapsed lung for a long time can be bad. Might want to get it checked out.
If you go to urgent care and complain of “chest pains” you’ll instantly get to the front of the line. 
He’d be front of the line in the billing department too. Oh cardiac stuff? Cha-chink.
He’d be front of the line in the billing department too. Oh cardiac stuff? Cha-chink.
My whole thing was really cheap (bargain-basement Kaiser HMO). I complained of chest pains (which was legit at the time, I thought I might be having a heart attack based on the really weird, sharp pain). Had a sizeable team of Drs., nurses, and techs all over me for several hours.
Whole thing ended up being $50 out-of-pocket, including the surgery and follow-up care.
Unless you mean cha-ching for the hospital after billing insurance…which may have been the case - I have no idea.
Thanks for all the feedback. It’s looking like I’m going to have to shut things down for a while. I was feeling a little bit better today and tried to swim and run on the treadmill, but it just wasn’t happening. It’s a damn shame cause I busted my ass all winter long and was really in top shape going into the season. Hopefully I can resume training in time to be competitive at Columbia in May and Eagleman in June.
Resume training? If you can’t swim, use this as a good reason for a bike focus. Crush some TT’s. I was road racing every weekend and could barely take a deep breath. You’ll live.
I’ve done this (intercostal tear) and know a lot of people who have done this (common Jiu Jitsu injury). If this is what you have I would highly recommend not doing ANYTHING physical for at least two weeks. Weeks three and four can be light work, five and six a bit more work. After six weeks you should be back to normal.
The key here is to have zero pain for at least four weeks before going back to normal activities.
Or, you can do your race in 11 days and MAYBE be ok, but if you re-tear the rest of your season is toast. I’ve seen at least five people, including myself, have this issue and follow the six-eight week recovery and everything turns out good. I’ve also seen another half dozen people come back to training (Jiu Jitsu) after a week or two, re-injure themselves and then I never see them again.
From my understanding, re-injury of this is really really bad.
Oh, and whatever you do, DON’T SNEEZE!!!
ive had an identical progression of events yesterday but the injury was in my neck/back area. i was bending down to do something, when getting up i felt a tear in my back, i thought nothing of it but now it is a stabbing pain and everything hurts, except riding the trainer and walking up the stairs. so these are the two activities i am confined to. like someone mentioned, sneezing hurts like hell and so does putting on clothes. i had to stop driving and could not work today. the plan to is to avoid swimming and running, and focus on the trainer, doing strength work on the steps, and potentially in about a week i could do some kicking in the water although it might be different for you since you injured your ribs.
ouch. rest rest and more rest helps.
I would say scratch that first race as much as that sucks.