Broken Rib - need advise

[Joel]

I broke a rib in cycling accident just over 2 months ago. The pain has
gradually been diminishing but is still with me. Recently, after
running 2 days and then cycling the next 2 days, the pain has increased
to about where it was 2-3 weeks ago. I was hoping it would have been
healed by now. I am not sure if the pain is due to the break not
completely healing or if it is from bruising or something else. Im also
not sure if I should stop or reduce exercise until the pain goes away.
Any advise would be appreciated.

Joel

 

[Michael Press]

In article
<[email protected]>,
"Joel" <[email protected]> wrote:

> I broke a rib in cycling accident just over 2 months ago. The pain has
> gradually been diminishing but is still with me. Recently, after
> running 2 days and then cycling the next 2 days, the pain has increased
> to about where it was 2-3 weeks ago. I was hoping it would have been
> healed by now. I am not sure if the pain is due to the break not
> completely healing or if it is from bruising or something else. Im also
> not sure if I should stop or reduce exercise until the pain goes away.
> Any advise would be appreciated.

This is a self-answering question, as seen on
comp.lang.perl.misc.

--
Michael Press

 

[tspoon]

Joel wrote:
> I broke a rib in cycling accident just over 2 months ago. The pain has
> gradually been diminishing but is still with me. Recently, after
> running 2 days and then cycling the next 2 days, the pain has increased
> to about where it was 2-3 weeks ago. I was hoping it would have been
> healed by now. I am not sure if the pain is due to the break not
> completely healing or if it is from bruising or something else. Im also
> not sure if I should stop or reduce exercise until the pain goes away.
> Any advise would be appreciated.
>
> Joel
>

I fractured a rib one time, but it wasn't as serious as yours sounds.
Cycling was one of the few things I could do. It took several days for
the fracture to start hurting and about 2 weeks to stop. Coughing, Deep
breaths, moving in bed were all agony but cycling fine. Go figure. The
doctor gave me voltaren pain killer which worked well. So well that
after a week I though I was better and stopped taking them. It took a
couple of days for the pain to start back up so I gave it another week.

Conventional wisdom on ribs is that the only thing you can do is wait.
Out of running and cycling I would suspect it was running that caused
the pain to increase as cycling is fairly easy on the body/ joints etc

 

[Mark Hickey]

"Joel" <[email protected]> wrote:

>I broke a rib in cycling accident just over 2 months ago. The pain has
>gradually been diminishing but is still with me. Recently, after
>running 2 days and then cycling the next 2 days, the pain has increased
>to about where it was 2-3 weeks ago. I was hoping it would have been
>healed by now. I am not sure if the pain is due to the break not
>completely healing or if it is from bruising or something else. Im also
>not sure if I should stop or reduce exercise until the pain goes away.
>Any advise would be appreciated.

The rib has to knit to heal, and if you've never really given it the
chance to knit back together before re-torquing it, it may not be much
closer to "fixed" than just after you broke it.

I found I needed to take a week or two off the bike, and then I had to
take it really easy (NO deep breathing). Coughing or sneezing? Don't
recommend it. And I did find that a large Ace bandage did a good job
of giving my rib cage just enough "squeeze" to ease the discomfort
(and I assume, promote healing by putting a little compression on the
fracture).

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $795 ti frame

 

[Ken]

Expect to hurt for awhile. Often it is not the rib hurting but the
surrounding tissue that was damaged. It took me several months to heal
from a bad fall that broke my collar bone, 7 ribs, one of them passing into
my lung. It took me about 6 months to get back into half IM distance
racing.

Do as much as you can without causing significant pain. The movement will
get the tissue back into place and aid healing.

Ken
"Joel" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I broke a rib in cycling accident just over 2 months ago. The pain has
> gradually been diminishing but is still with me. Recently, after
> running 2 days and then cycling the next 2 days, the pain has increased
> to about where it was 2-3 weeks ago. I was hoping it would have been
> healed by now. I am not sure if the pain is due to the break not
> completely healing or if it is from bruising or something else. Im also
> not sure if I should stop or reduce exercise until the pain goes away.
> Any advise would be appreciated.
>
> Joel
>

 

[Lou D'Amelio]

Joel - in general, the rib (or any bone) heals to maximum tensile
strength at about 8 weeks. Rib fractures are idiosyncratic and other's
well-intentioned anecdotes may not apply to you. Persistent pain may
occur intermittently for up to a year following rib fractures even if
they are well-healed. It will get less and your activity threshold will
go up with time. Your pain will be worse if your fracture was
displaced or if the intercostal nerve was involved. (Think spare ribs -
the stringy linear stuff on the inside bottom of each rib is the bundle
of the intercostal nerve, artery, and vein.) NSAIDS (ibuprofen, etc.)
are particularly good for this type of pain if you have no other
medical contraindication to them. I would suggest a few days rest, ease
back into light zone 1 and 2 activity, and take an NSAID for mild to
moderate pain. Tailor your activity to how you feel. If your pain
persists, get a chest x-ray or rib series to check healing, but it
would be virtually unheard of for a simple rib fracture to not be
healed at this interval in a healthy adult.

Lou D'Amelio
(trauma surgeon by trade, Masters Fatty Cat IV on the bike)

 

[Ernie Willson]

Joel wrote:
> I broke a rib in cycling accident just over 2 months ago. The pain has
> gradually been diminishing but is still with me. Recently, after
> running 2 days and then cycling the next 2 days, the pain has increased
> to about where it was 2-3 weeks ago. I was hoping it would have been
> healed by now. I am not sure if the pain is due to the break not
> completely healing or if it is from bruising or something else. Im also
> not sure if I should stop or reduce exercise until the pain goes away.
> Any advise would be appreciated.
>
> Joel
>
I guess the healing time depends on your age. I broke two ribs, in
separate incidents when I was about 60 y/o. Each took about three months
to fully heal. YMMV. If the pain persists I suggest you see a doctor.
Meanwhile I hope you don't sneeze.
EJ in NJ

 

[Skippy]

"Joel" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I broke a rib in cycling accident just over 2 months ago. The pain has
> gradually been diminishing but is still with me. Recently, after
> running 2 days and then cycling the next 2 days, the pain has increased
> to about where it was 2-3 weeks ago. I was hoping it would have been
> healed by now. I am not sure if the pain is due to the break not
> completely healing or if it is from bruising or something else. Im also
> not sure if I should stop or reduce exercise until the pain goes away.
> Any advise would be appreciated.
>
> Joel
>

Broke my sternum (chestbone) a few years back and was told not to do any
exercise for 12 weeks! I started back at the gym on recumbent style bikes
after 8, after asking my sister; a nurse tutor. She warned me against
biking while still healing because the complications from crashing could be
very serious.

In my unqualified opinion, running is very likely to stop the fracture
knitting. That's why I was on the stationary bikes.

See your doctor. He/She knows a hell of lot more than I do!

Get well soon.

Skippy
E&OE

 

[Anthony Campbell]

On 2006-04-19, Ernie Willson <[email protected]> wrote:
> Joel wrote:
>> I broke a rib in cycling accident just over 2 months ago. The pain has
>> gradually been diminishing but is still with me. Recently, after
>> running 2 days and then cycling the next 2 days, the pain has increased
>> to about where it was 2-3 weeks ago. I was hoping it would have been
>> healed by now. I am not sure if the pain is due to the break not
>> completely healing or if it is from bruising or something else. Im also
>> not sure if I should stop or reduce exercise until the pain goes away.
>> Any advise would be appreciated.
>>
>> Joel
>>
> I guess the healing time depends on your age. I broke two ribs, in
> separate incidents when I was about 60 y/o. Each took about three months
> to fully heal. YMMV. If the pain persists I suggest you see a doctor.
> Meanwhile I hope you don't sneeze.
> EJ in NJ

As others have said, the timing is very variable. When I broke a rib a
few years ago (in my later 60s) the pain disappeared in about a week,
and in fact I doubted if I had broken it; but a recent x-ray showed that
in fact I had.

Anthony

--
Anthony Campbell - [email protected]
Microsoft-free zone - Using Linux Gnu-Debian
http://www.acampbell.org.uk (blog, book reviews,
on-line books and sceptical articles)

 

[Bob]

On Wed, 19 Apr 2006 02:09:43 GMT, Michael Press <[email protected]> wrote:

>
>This is a self-answering question, as seen on
>comp.lang.perl.misc.
>
>--
>Michael Press

You mean like the questions "How do I post in newsgroups?" ?

 

[Joel]

Well, I went for 6 hour ride yesterday and it did not hurt any more
than everyday moving around, except on a brief 20% grade hill.
I am going to quit the running for now until the pain is really gone
and ease up the riding some. Thanks for all the responses.

Joel

 

[Rick]

Joel wrote:
> I broke a rib in cycling accident just over 2 months ago. The pain has
> gradually been diminishing but is still with me. Recently, after
> running 2 days and then cycling the next 2 days, the pain has increased
> to about where it was 2-3 weeks ago. I was hoping it would have been
> healed by now. I am not sure if the pain is due to the break not
> completely healing or if it is from bruising or something else. Im also
> not sure if I should stop or reduce exercise until the pain goes away.
> Any advise would be appreciated.
>

Rib injuries heal slowly. I broke two in a car accident .... 12 years
ago. The 'I do not want to breathe deeply' pain lasted about 6 months.
But, every once in a while, they still hurt ... 12 years later.
Just know that you will need to be in it for the long haul, and a
couple of months is not long.

- rick

 

[Anthony Campbell]

On 2006-04-21, Rick <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Joel wrote:
>> I broke a rib in cycling accident just over 2 months ago. The pain has
>> gradually been diminishing but is still with me. Recently, after
>> running 2 days and then cycling the next 2 days, the pain has increased
>> to about where it was 2-3 weeks ago. I was hoping it would have been
>> healed by now. I am not sure if the pain is due to the break not
>> completely healing or if it is from bruising or something else. Im also
>> not sure if I should stop or reduce exercise until the pain goes away.
>> Any advise would be appreciated.
>>
>
> Rib injuries heal slowly. I broke two in a car accident .... 12 years
> ago. The 'I do not want to breathe deeply' pain lasted about 6 months.
> But, every once in a while, they still hurt ... 12 years later.
> Just know that you will need to be in it for the long haul, and a
> couple of months is not long.
>
> - rick
>

In such cases the problem is not that the fracture hasn't healed; it
has. The pain is continuing for other reasons, possibly related to
altered patterns of transmission within the spinal cord or possibly even
within the brain; an example of "pain memory". This does NOT, of course,
mean that it is unreal or "psycholoigical"! But different approaches are
needed to resolve it.

Anthony


--
Anthony Campbell - [email protected]
Microsoft-free zone - Using Linux Gnu-Debian
http://www.acampbell.org.uk (blog, book reviews,
on-line books and sceptical articles)

 

[Arno Welzel]

Joel wrote:

> I broke a rib in cycling accident just over 2 months ago. The pain has
> gradually been diminishing but is still with me. Recently, after
[...]

It may probably last for another couple of months. Broken ribs may cause
pain for a long time. I had an accident last year, where i just hit two
ribs without breaking them - the pain started a week afterwards and it
took nearly four months until all pain was gone. And i still have an
uncomfortable feeling in some situations - not really painful, but i can
still feel, where i was hit :-/

You can still go cycling - just respect your body. If the pain is
increasing, reduce your activity. No big deal - it will just take time.


--
http://arnowelzel.de
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