# Speed up broken rib recovery?



## jestep (Jul 23, 2004)

Had a bad crash on a downhill section on the 8th of July. Overcorrected a rut that awkwardly bounced my wheel to the right and ended up folding it under me going about 20 down a very hard and fast singletrack. Of course it was on a straightaway and not one of the gnarly switchbacks we were dealing with earlier in the ride... We were just XC riding so didn't have any armor beyond a helmet on.

I ended up spraining my wrist and breaking 1 or 2 ribs as well as bruising and scraping the hell out of my right side, black eye, road rash everywhere. Because of where we were at, had to ride 11 miles afterwards which was worse than the crash. Ribs are right below my shoulder blade so even light breathing pushes on them.

I have a 10 day canoe trip coming up in about 3 weeks and I still only have partial use of my right side, let alone still cannot get a full breath without extreme pain.

Anyone have any tips on the fastest way to recover ribs if any. Right now, I've basically ceased all upper body physical activity, but even sleeping is painful, sneezing is almost unbearable, burping hurts... Taking a bunch of anti inflammatories but seems like icing isn't helping anymore since most of the swelling is now gone.

What's people normal timeline to get back to some form of normal function? I was hoping this would feel a little better after 10 days, which the bruising pain is mostly gone, but the rib pain is worse. It will be roughly 4 and a half weeks of recovery before we get to Canada, so hopefully there's some improvement before we leave, but anything possible to speed this up is going to help when I'm 4 days out in the middle of nowhere trying to portage a canoe.


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## watts888 (Oct 2, 2012)

I'm assuming you've been to a doctor? What were their recommendations?


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## jestep (Jul 23, 2004)

watts888 said:


> I'm assuming you've been to a doctor? What were their recommendations?


Anti inflammatories and rest/isolation, the later being extremely difficult because of which ones they are. Not really any actual recovery timeline though, suggested 4 - 6 weeks, but mainly when I can function again. Obviously no impacts for more than 4 - 6 weeks, just talking normal activity.


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## Thrawn (Jan 15, 2009)

Been there many times... I feel for you...

Functional in maybe a month if you take it easy... Also depends on age... Just recently, took 3 months before i can sleep without pain from cracked ribs... 

Sorry, wish I had more advice...


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## jestep (Jul 23, 2004)

Thrawn said:


> Been there many times... I feel for you...
> 
> Functional in maybe a month if you take it easy... Also depends on age... Just recently, took 3 months before i can sleep without pain from cracked ribs...
> 
> Sorry, wish I had more advice...


Oh that's brutal. I would like to say I heal quickly, but I swear once I hit 30 a few years back, my healing speed completely went to s**t.


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## watts888 (Oct 2, 2012)

wait till you hit 40.

I'd make plans now on minimal rowing during the canoe trip.


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## WHALENARD (Feb 21, 2010)

I broke/separated ribs not once but twice last season...lucky me. It took me about 3-4 weeks before I could sleep without pain but maybe only a week or so before I could ride again. Granted there was pain after the fact, but once I got warmed up it was bearable. Mine were both off of my sternum so maybe that was a factor. I'm pushing 43 but have always healed very fast compared to my contemporaries, yet they still bother me now & again on the one side. Most likely scar tissue.

There are some good studies showing vitamin C and some other key minerals such as manganese, magnesium, etc aiding/accelerating bone callus. I'd recomend lots of vitamin C, 2000-4000 mg of D, a quality multi mineral, and some lysine to supplement healing. Good luck!


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## WaywardTraveller (Oct 2, 2011)

Broke 3 ribs back at the beginning of May this year. They take time to heal, and if you push it, it'll just take more time. Ribs do heal incredibly quickly...but you're still healing broken bones. Took 3 weeks before I could sleep at night. I was riding again at 2 weeks, but ONLY on the road, ANY jarring was horrible. Light trail at about 5 weeks, but only on the FS...any upper body strain was a no-go (No single speed antics that's for sure)

I was able to race at Albion end of June, but I could certainly still feel them, and probably would have been in for some trouble had I crashed.

I'm at about 90% now. Still feel them occasionally especially after an intense singlespeed run.

Hope you heal quick, but you should know within about a week of your trip whether you'll be able to do it or not.


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## matadorCE (Jun 26, 2013)

Thrawn said:


> Been there many times... I feel for you...
> 
> Functional in maybe a month if you take it easy... Also depends on age... Just recently, took 3 months before i can sleep without pain from cracked ribs...
> 
> Sorry, wish I had more advice...


I only heavily bruised my ribs early this year and I'm in my late 30's and that took over a month to heal plus I accidentally re-injured it quite easily playing pick-up soccer about two months afterwards and that took another 3-4 weeks before I felt fine. I had never had rib injuries before and it's not something I want to repeat.

To the OP, you're not making that canoe trip. Best to heal up than to make an injury worse that will take even longer to heal.


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## MSU Alum (Aug 8, 2009)

I busted a rib or 2 in March. There's not much you can do. I did find that small doses of Valium for the first 10 days helped a lot as a muscle relaxer. Other than that, ibuprofen. I'm 64 and it was about 4 to 5 weeks before I could do much. Paddling would have been out of the question for 6 weeks at least, for me.


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## LaXCarp (Jul 19, 2008)

Are you sure you didnt impact your lung? My ribs broke there and one punctured a lung. 

You can't pass up a boundary waters trip so you're just gonna have to deal with the pain. Applying force through a canoe paddle will likely be painful. Good luck!


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## jestep (Jul 23, 2004)

LaXCarp said:


> Are you sure you didnt impact your lung? My ribs broke there and one punctured a lung.
> 
> You can't pass up a boundary waters trip so you're just gonna have to deal with the pain. Applying force through a canoe paddle will likely be painful. Good luck!


Yeah, just ribs luckily. I still have quite a bit of bruising so hopefully nothing ended up getting torn at the same time. Was so bruised and road rashed up, there was no way to tell initially.

We'll be in Quetico park. Definitely not going to miss it. I'll bring a tow rope if I have to...


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## LaXCarp (Jul 19, 2008)

There is a lot of connective tissue between your ribs that likely will give you more issues than the bones themselves.


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## mtnbikej (Sep 6, 2001)

Be careful about what anti-inflamitories that you take.

NSAIDS(Aleve, Motrin, Asprin) actually slow down bone healing.


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## Oh My Sack! (Aug 21, 2006)

That's misery. I'd be dumping the paddling plans. That's going to absolutely kick your ass, not to mention prolonging the misery you're already experiencing. And just curious...how is your potential inability to paddle and get around going to effect the others on the trip? Seems like that should take some consideration.


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## cyclelicious (Oct 7, 2008)

Depends on the activity and the movements involved. For paddling you would be using mostly your obliques and lats. The twisting could cause pain and affect breathing.

Ribs are funny. The first time I fractured ribs, I was able to do an easy ride 2 weeks post injury, but I could not do yoga for several weeks (because of the torso twisting). The last time I broke my ribs (one year ago) , I was off the bike for 6 weeks but I was able to do some training at the gym after 2 weeks rest (I also had a long list of other fractures which limited me tremendously) I slowly recovered, but I do recall that my breathing , especially inhaling, hurt like hell especially with increased activity/cardio.


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## Muirenn (Jun 17, 2013)

After the swelling goes down, use heat as opposed to ice. If you aggravate the injury, try ice again. 

You really want to go on a boat trip and be miserable?


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## jestep (Jul 23, 2004)

We have a pretty large and laid back group of family so I'll end up fishing the whole time if it's still a major problem when we go up there.

Ironically today is the first day that it actually feels better. I'll give some heat a shot. Most of the swelling and bruising is gone now.


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