Broken rib, how long to heal?

"Joel" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Broke a rib in a crash 2 weeks ago. The first couple of days I had
excruciating pain. Now the pain is moderate and constant. I can ride
some, but can't stand up off the saddle while pedaling. How long should
it take before the pain subsides?

Thanks

How can you be sure it is broken? Have you had an x-ray? Get an x-ray and
then the doctor will be able to tell you how long.

Yes, it was x-ray'd and the radiologist was not sure it was broken and
suggested a more detailed x-ray of the rib. My GP said that was not
necessary since there is no treatment other than rest. I assume it is
broken because of the pain level.

Joel said:

Yes, it was x-ray'd and the radiologist was not sure it was broken and
suggested a more detailed x-ray of the rib. My GP said that was not
necessary since there is no treatment other than rest. I assume it is
broken because of the pain level.

My experience is that most of the pain comes from soft tissue injury
rather than the broken rib itself. Sometimes a bruised rib area is
actually more painfull than a break that is surrounded by minimal soft
tissue damage.

The general rule of thumb is that it will be pretty much healed in ~ 6
weeks. If your GP says OK I'd think you can work out to your own
comfort level in the meantime.

In article
<[email hidden]>,

gds said:

Joel said:

Yes, it was x-ray'd and the radiologist was not sure it was broken and
suggested a more detailed x-ray of the rib. My GP said that was not
necessary since there is no treatment other than rest. I assume it is
broken because of the pain level.

My experience is that most of the pain comes from soft tissue injury
rather than the broken rib itself. Sometimes a bruised rib area is
actually more painfull than a break that is surrounded by minimal soft
tissue damage.

Twice I have had `minor' cracked ribs. Once off the
bicycle, once in karate class. Both times I picked myself
up and continued as before. Finished the downhill, won the
match; and I did not play with pain. A few days later I
began to wake in the middle of the night with serious
pain. It was the rib on the mend [censored] me out for
rolling over on it. For a fortnight I was required to wake
up before shifting my position, then move very carefully.

The soft tissue injury in each case was a bruise that was
not at all sensitive. The pain was from straining a
partially mended bone.

Quoted message said:

The general rule of thumb is that it will be pretty much healed in ~ 6
weeks. If your GP says OK I'd think you can work out to your own
comfort level in the meantime.

--
Michael Press

Joel said:

Broke a rib in a crash 2 weeks ago. The first couple of days I had
excruciating pain. Now the pain is moderate and constant. I can ride
some, but can't stand up off the saddle while pedaling. How long should
it take before the pain subsides?

Thanks

I was able to ride stationary machines after a few days and depending
on specific issues you may have it could be anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks
before you are able to ride as you did pre-crash.

Joel said:

Broke a rib in a crash 2 weeks ago. The first couple of days I had
excruciating pain. Now the pain is moderate and constant. I can ride
some, but can't stand up off the saddle while pedaling. How long should
it take before the pain subsides?

Figure 4 - 6 weeks. You'll know if you're overdoing things in the meanwhile.

Ron

I had a crash back in November, and it hurt mildly for a
couple of weeks. Then once night, I had the same experience
you had, Michael; woke up in the middle of the night in
absolutely excrutiating pain. I have no idea what I did to
exacerbate it, but there was no ignoring it. Got an x-ray
the next morning and discovered a cracked rib. The doctor
said to expect pain diminishing to tenderness for 8 weeks,
and she told me to stay off the bike. But she said the trainer
was okay. It was eight weeks before I started feeling 100%
again.

May you heal fast, Joel...

~bob

Michael Press said:

In article
<[email hidden]>,

gds said:

Joel said:

Yes, it was x-ray'd and the radiologist was not sure it was broken and
suggested a more detailed x-ray of the rib. My GP said that was not
necessary since there is no treatment other than rest. I assume it is
broken because of the pain level.

My experience is that most of the pain comes from soft tissue injury
rather than the broken rib itself. Sometimes a bruised rib area is
actually more painfull than a break that is surrounded by minimal soft
tissue damage.

Twice I have had `minor' cracked ribs. Once off the
bicycle, once in karate class. Both times I picked myself
up and continued as before. Finished the downhill, won the
match; and I did not play with pain. A few days later I
began to wake in the middle of the night with serious
pain. It was the rib on the mend [censored] me out for
rolling over on it. For a fortnight I was required to wake
up before shifting my position, then move very carefully.

The soft tissue injury in each case was a bruise that was
not at all sensitive. The pain was from straining a
partially mended bone.

Michael Press said:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Twice I have had `minor' cracked ribs. Once off the
bicycle, once in karate class. Both times I picked myself
up and continued as before. Finished the downhill, won the
match; and I did not play with pain. A few days later I
began to wake in the middle of the night with serious
pain. It was the rib on the mend [censored] me out for
rolling over on it.

Just a question, is your conclusion based on a medical diagnosis or
just your gut feeling? I also participated in karate for many years
and (sadly) had a lot of experience with damaged ribs- my own and
others. The most painful episodes (of mine) were those that upon x-ray
showed no fracture. Every medical professional I consulted thought that
the majority of the pain was caused by soft tissue injury.
And I imagine that the nature of bone damage is also relevant. A
hairline crack is a very different beast from a displaced fracture.

In any case I think that unless the bone damage is severe that the
estimates being given for recovery are pretty much in the range of my
experience.

In article
<[email hidden]>,

gds said:

Michael Press said:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Twice I have had `minor' cracked ribs. Once off the
bicycle, once in karate class. Both times I picked myself
up and continued as before. Finished the downhill, won the
match; and I did not play with pain. A few days later I
began to wake in the middle of the night with serious
pain. It was the rib on the mend [censored] me out for
rolling over on it.

Just a question, is your conclusion based on a medical diagnosis or
just your gut feeling? I also participated in karate for many years
and (sadly) had a lot of experience with damaged ribs- my own and
others. The most painful episodes (of mine) were those that upon x-ray
showed no fracture. Every medical professional I consulted thought that
the majority of the pain was caused by soft tissue injury.
And I imagine that the nature of bone damage is also relevant. A
hairline crack is a very different beast from a displaced fracture.

In any case I think that unless the bone damage is severe that the
estimates being given for recovery are pretty much in the range of my
experience.

No medical diagnosis. What precisely is the soft tissue
you speak of? How is it that the pain I experienced
occurred only when stressing the rib? The pain was sharp,
and intense. 3 of 7.

--
Michael Press

The soft tissue is all the non bone stuff around the ribs ( muscle,
ligament, tendons, etc) . Ususally a blow strong enough to break a rib
also does a lot of internal bruising to the soft tissues surrounding
the rib(s). I'm not an MD and I'm not making a diagnosis, but my
understanding of what happens is that a small fracture (cracked rib) is
pretty painless itself but all the bruising to the soft tissue can be
quite painful. So, what you call stressing the rib can in fact be
stressing (pulling on or pushing against) the damaged soft tissue
around the rib and like a surface bruise it hurts when you bang on it.

As long as there is not a serious fracture that involves danger of
dispalcemant and or having a cahnce of causing further damage it really
doesn't matter. For a minor cracked rib or for soft tissue you just
need to be carefull and increase intensity of movement as pain allows.
I've always used the 6 week figure for any injury as about what it
takes to be pretty well healed. But certainly one can be active well
be fore that as long as the risk of further damage is understood and
managed.