# Broken Ribs



## meeeeep (Apr 22, 2011)

Hi everyone. I was riding Fromme mountain yesterday and broke three ribs on a fall midway down on Crinkum Crankum. I was wondering if anyone could share their recovery experience with this injury. I've never broken any bones before and I'm disappointed to be out of commission. How long did it take before you got back on the bike?


----------



## AKamp (Jan 26, 2004)

Broken ribs suck ass. The only thing that I ever found to truely work for it is heat. Wrap a warm pack around your chest and take some deep breaths.


----------



## BJL-1 (Apr 7, 2011)

Not much you can do for broken ribs. Ice for pain, maybe tylenol/advil. Assuming you got an x-ray to confirm this. Most broken ribs heal in about 6-8 weeks. They may be painful at first especially with deep breathing. Typically you can ride when you are comfortable doing so, but i would stick to the road for 4-6 weeks. Falling again on less than fully healed ribs may cause them to refracture or worse cause a punctured lung...then you have a whole other set of problems. Happy healing!


----------



## meeeeep (Apr 22, 2011)

Thanks guys!

There's a couple gravel roads and trails I can ride here in Vancouver so I'll give those a try when I can breathe without pain again.


----------



## NitroRC Ed (Feb 27, 2010)

I wore one of those abdomen supports for a long time - wrapped it tight and that helped a lot. I could take breaths easier that's for sure. 

After about 4 weeks i was going stir crazy and couldn't sleep at night but i waited till 8 and took my first ride. I broke mine back on August 4th to do this day i still have a little weird feeling/lump where it broke.

Ed


----------



## curtboroff (Sep 21, 2010)

I'm down with a broken clavicle for 2 weeks now, and the phrase stir crazy don't cut it. Haha. I cracked 2 ribs when I was in high school, didn't even miss a football game. No way I'd try that now though. It's crazy how much smarter and pussified one can become in a short 15 years.

Good luck and quick healing.


----------



## herbn (Sep 17, 2005)

I was gonna say 4 weeks but someone beat me to it. I had an unconfirmed broken rib last nov and i caught a cold /respritory thing at about the same time. Seemed to have a cold coming on and I had to go on a ride with a new bike anyway, so i goofed up on something simple landed on a log with my rib.Four weeks with a respritory cough/cold and probabely a broken rib, avery bad combination.


----------



## meeeeep (Apr 22, 2011)

Ugh, I can't think of a pain much worse than that herbn. I made the mistake of sneezing this morning and it hurt like hell.

Thanks for your well wishes everyone. I can report that 1 week on, the pain of my ribs has subsided dramatically. It's still difficult to turn my torso and to sit up in bed, however I can now turn side to side without that much pain. I'm taking regular aspirin and dicoflenac (for my arthritis) every night before I sleep.


----------



## Tim-H (Mar 20, 2010)

Possible fracture on one of mine or just a bad bruising from a crash on saturday. Just be sure to take deep breaths throughout the day. Even if they hurt like hell, it will prevent pneumonia.


----------



## BallardFoodie (Jan 19, 2010)

fractured one 5 weeks ago. 4-6 weeks is what the doc said to me. Not much you can do other than let it work itself out. Feeling fine now.


----------



## meeeeep (Apr 22, 2011)

2 week update on the ribs. I can now turn side to side when I sleep without too much pain and I can cough, laugh and most importantly, burp without any pain (yesss bring on the beer). The area where my broken ribs is itches! I guess that means I'm healing.


----------



## terrasmak (Jun 14, 2011)

Lifetime of pain, i broke 4 ribs about 5 years ago, i still cant sleep on that side. Your lucky, i also collapsed a lung when i did it, that sucked.


----------



## meeeeep (Apr 22, 2011)

terrasmak said:


> Lifetime of pain, i broke 4 ribs about 5 years ago, i still cant sleep on that side. Your lucky, i also collapsed a lung when i did it, that sucked.


Aww man sorry to hear about that.

Do you wear body armour when you bike now?


----------



## terrasmak (Jun 14, 2011)

meeeeep said:


> Aww man sorry to hear about that.
> 
> Do you wear body armour when you bike now?


Just started on MTB's , so kinda undecided. Probably will depend on terain, same thing i do when riding my dirt bike or quad.

That crash that screwed me up was actually on a sportbike. I was shaking down my new 06 GSXR at Spring Mountain Ranch and left the racing surface at the top of 3rd (mid 120's) woke up next to the bike . woke up again with medical personal next to me. Ended up with a crushed T8, another broken collar bone, finally seperated my good shoulder , 4 ribs , collapsed lung and bruised kidney. Needless to say i didn't race the 06 season, nor have i been back on the track with a sportbike since.


----------



## meeeeep (Apr 22, 2011)

Ouch terrasmak. 
I just bought some TLD 7850 padding. It's week 4 of my recovery and I'm planning on going for a light ride on Sunday. No more sharp pain but sometimes I wake up very sore.


----------



## Jimmy_Bar (Apr 4, 2011)

Took a spill last weekend while riding my local mtb trail. Broke 5 ribs and my clavicle. I've got to say broken ribs are probably the worst pain I've ever experienced.


----------



## meeeeep (Apr 22, 2011)

Jimmy_Bar said:


> Took a spill last weekend while riding my local mtb trail. Broke 5 ribs and my clavicle. I've got to say broken ribs are probably the worst pain I've ever experienced.


Heal up well Jimmy. By week 2 you should be able to do most things without pain (breathe, burp etc).

At week 5 I am feeling almost 100%. I went to Whistler bike park yesterday and rode cautiously. I find Whistler to be much safer/easier than the North Shore if you don't take the tabletops at high speed.


----------



## Jimmy_Bar (Apr 4, 2011)

meeeeep said:


> Heal up well Jimmy. By week 2 you should be able to do most things without pain (breathe, burp etc).
> 
> At week 5 I am feeling almost 100%. I went to Whistler bike park yesterday and rode cautiously. I find Whistler to be much safer/easier than the North Shore if you don't take the tabletops at high speed.


Thanks, brother. I already feel a lot better than I did earlier this week. The first few days afterwords were brutal!


----------



## queevil (Feb 17, 2009)

I wonder if my ribs are broken. I had an accident on the 4th where somehow the end of my handlebar ended up jabbing me in the ribs. Hurt like hell. Today is Friday and the pain has subsided somewhat but it still hurts really bad to take a deep breath and to lift anything more than five or ten pounds. It also hurts to make sudden movements. 

The way that other posters describe their pain makes me think that my ribs and the muscle surrounding the area of impact are just bruised.

I don't think that a pnuemothorax has occured. I've had six or seven (spontaneously, not caused by trauma) and know what they feel like.

Anyway, thanks to the OP for starting this thread. Hopefully I'll be back on the bike in a week or so. I feel like I could ride right now but I surely couldn't use any of my upper body strength to handle the bike such as bunnyhops.


----------



## meeeeep (Apr 22, 2011)

queevil said:


> I wonder if my ribs are broken. I had an accident on the 4th where somehow the end of my handlebar ended up jabbing me in the ribs. Hurt like hell. Today is Friday and the pain has subsided somewhat but it still hurts really bad to take a deep breath and to lift anything more than five or ten pounds. It also hurts to make sudden movements.
> 
> The way that other posters describe their pain makes me think that my ribs and the muscle surrounding the area of impact are just bruised.
> 
> ...


Sorry to hear about the injury dude. Take it easy for a week or so and you should improve a lot. Go see a doctor as soon as possible just to make sure that you haven't hurt yourself in other ways.


----------



## queevil (Feb 17, 2009)

Thanks man, I feel a bit better already. Tomorrow will be a week since the accident and I don't have as much pain but I still don't think I could ride anything more than pavement right now. I ride Cameron Park in Waco, TX and much of it is technical climbing. Hopefully I'll be able to ride some of the easier trails by next week.

It was certainly not the most spectacular looking accident I've ever had but it sure has been the most painful by far. My front wheel broke loose on a slick root causing me to lose traction and go down. That's it. Simple as that. Anyway, thanks again. I hope you're close to a full recovery by now.


----------



## eauxgod (Jun 15, 2004)

8 weeks out and I no longer have pain in my rib cage. What a sucky sucky experience it has been getting over the fracture(s). To top it off, I am little gun shy when it comes to hammering corners now too.


----------



## herbn (Sep 17, 2005)

give it another 8 weeks and your psych should come back too, a relatively short period of time compared to slow healing or non healing tibia and fibia.


----------



## DOCRIGID (Sep 16, 2009)

broken ribs suck, I was off the bike for 2 months, more annoying that painful. you want pain try passing a kidney stone.


----------



## RallyPunx (May 5, 2009)

I feel your pain. I broke two ribs and left clavicle on my second ride this season. Both were very painful, but the ribs were the worst for the first two weeks. I'm on week eight now and the ribs don't bother me anymore. The clavicle is another story!!!


----------



## kikikuku (Jul 20, 2011)

OP: hope you have a speedy recovery.
I'm lucky enough to have never broken any bones. I recently felt off 7 foot dirt hills, my left chest took direct impact, I only bruised my diaphragm.


----------



## pigdog (Feb 7, 2011)

heh. seperated / cracked three ribs and got a viscious kidney shot after going over the bars in the new rock garden up at Sandy Ridge last Thursday. Quickly reminded me why I basically retired from skateboarding. Full on skate style rock slam. My own mistake, bad line stuffed my front wheel between two rocks coming off an insignificant drop, bike stopped and loaded up while I was still moving forward, sent me over the bars. Very lucky its not a collarbone. 

new trail section was almost worth it though


----------

