Broken ribs (3) - any advice?
Gerard Lanois
I had somebody fall right in front of me during my Tuesday night
velodrome race. The crash itself wasn't so bad - I did a perfect judo
roll and ended up looking like someone attacked the right side of my
body with a disc sander. I was going pretty fast at the time - it was
the point-a-lap event, and I was just starting to work my way back up
during lap 4 after contesting the sprint for lap 2.
No head, shoulder, or collarbone issues whatsoever. I always wear 2
jersies when I race, and that really paid off in a big way this time.
Originally I thought I had partially had the wind knocked out of me,
but after I got up (slowly, and with alot of help) and walked back to
the infield benches I really wasn't recovering all that well.
I knew my ribs weren't 100%, but I thought the jarring of my rib cage
was just causing all the soft/connective tissue at the ends of the
ribs to become inflamed/sore. The ribs themselves felt fine - not
pressure sensitive.
I went home, cleaned up and bandaged everything. I sneezed at about
10pm and just about blacked out from the pain.
I took 3 ibuprofen and went to sleep. I woke up at 2:45 to pee and
took another 3 ibuprofen. I couldn't get back to sleep for a good 1.5
hours or more, so I resolved that I would go in to see a doctor first
thing in the morning.
The exam was inconclusive because, again, pressing on the ribs did not
hurt. Just alot of pain when breathing. Impossible to cough, sneeze,
yawn, laugh, or burp. They took 2 xrays, screened for internal organ
damage, urine test (for blood). They then sent me back for another
xray, to double check for collapsed lung.
The doctor brought me out to show me the xrays - 3 ribs (5/6/7) very
definitely broken, but apparently the fractures are on the inside.
Maybe that accounts for the lack of soreness on the outside?
As near as I can tell, when I landed I think I must have tucked my
right elbow in to my side, and the force of my body landing on it
smashed my ribs in.
My recovery plan is to not ride until I'm 100% better. Although my
season is getting cut short by about 1.5 months, I'm willing to just
skip riding altogether. The reason is that I'm afraid that the pain
and possibly the injury will be worse than the original injury and I
just don't want to go through it.
My doctor said I'd be feeling pain for 4-6 weeks, and my strategy is
to not ride until the pain is 99.9% gone. I was going to take off
from late October to mid-December anyway as my "off season". There is
a great road race down here (San Diego) on Feb 2nd. I trained
perfectly for this race last year by starting in mid-Decemeber and I'd
like to try to do the same this year.
Does anyone have experience with this? This isn't one of those "broke
my collarbone and I was back up on the wind training 3 days later"
situations, is it? Any advice or opinions, informed or otherwise?
-Gerard
Rocket
(by your long mes.)
If I were you, I would just end the season now and make sure you heal up
your ribs before even trying to ride again. With September rolling around,
most seasons are nearly over anyway, unless you plan to be in Zolder in
October!
Good luck!
Rocket
Bob Maher
<gerard...@netscape.net> wrote:
> I had somebody fall right in front of me during my Tuesday night
> velodrome race. The crash itself wasn't so bad - I did a perfect judo
SNiP
>
> Does anyone have experience with this? This isn't one of those "broke
> my collarbone and I was back up on the wind training 3 days later"
> situations, is it? Any advice or opinions, informed or otherwise?
>
> -Gerard
This past March I was run over by a car (while a pedestrian!) and had a
myriad of injuries, including a number of broken ribs, torn rib
cartilage, sternum damage and a bunch of internal injuries / injuries to
limbs. I was back on the bike about a week and a half later, but just to
go up and down the block. I was exhausted after a mile and a half of
flat nearly flat road. It hurt like hell to bend over to grab the bars,
and I was in much less pain while out of the saddle and climbing. This
is partially because I had a 12 inch incision from my sternum past my
navel that was still stiff / healing.
Many of the other injuries affected my recovery, but here is my specific
rib related experience. Within two and a half weeks my daily ride became
an 8 mile out and back with about 750 feet of climbing. The first half
of the ride was the hardest, and I would take a break halfway. My back
was so tired that I could barely dismount. By the fifth day in a row
that I did this ride, I was slower than the fourth and like I was not
recovering, so I took a few days off. Over the next two weeks I started
doing a 5 mile, 1,000 foot climb 2-3 times a week. On the first few
trips, by the end of the downhill I would just start to get some rib /
back pain. To me this meant that it was just the right difficulty. After
this, I moved on to bigger hills each week, and by 8 weeks after I was
able to climb Angeles Crest to Mt. Wilson (80 miles, 7,600 feet of
climbing) with no rib pain. This was as hard of a ride as had done in a
few years, and was a mental milestone in my recovery.
About a month ago rode on some aero bars for the first time in years -
after a few miles the new position caused me some pretty serious rib
pain, but this went away immediately after I changed position. If I had
to do it over again, my recovery would have included other exercises
(swimming / hiking) in addition to cycling.
This is merely my personal experience I would suggest consulting a
trainer / sports physiologist. I suspect that they will tell you that
after another week or so, light exercise is not only OK, but good for
your recovery. Ride every other day or so, don't stress your ribs to
much (i.e. no sprints), and build up your rides to match your recovery -
your ride should end about the same time you get increased soreness.
Oh yeah - and this tidbit - I had to prevent sneezes for weeks. I found
that do this by slapping my nose from the front / sides until the sneeze
feeling went away. This would happen a few times a day, and I did not
sneeze even once for over six weeks. Since I have recovered I now sneeze
with gusto.
Bob
Ken Papai
"Gerard Lanois" <gerard...@netscape.net> wrote in message ...
> ...
> I went home, cleaned up and bandaged everything. I sneezed at about
> 10pm and just about blacked out from the pain.
>
> I took 3 ibuprofen and went to sleep. I woke up at 2:45 to pee and
> took another 3 ibuprofen. I couldn't get back to sleep for a good 1.5
> hours or more, so I resolved that I would go in to see a doctor first
> thing in the morning.
> The doctor brought me out to show me the xrays - 3 ribs (5/6/7) very
> definitely broken, but apparently the fractures are on the inside.
> Maybe that accounts for the lack of soreness on the outside?
>
> As near as I can tell, when I landed I think I must have tucked my
> right elbow in to my side, and the force of my body landing on it
> smashed my ribs in.
>
> My recovery plan is to not ride until I'm 100% better. Although my
> season is getting cut short by about 1.5 months, I'm willing to just
> skip riding altogether. The reason is that I'm afraid that the pain
> and possibly the injury will be worse than the original injury and I
> just don't want to go through it.
>
> My doctor said I'd be feeling pain for 4-6 weeks, and my strategy is
Sounds right. I did this in Jan. 2000.
Busted a couple ribs doing a stupid mtn bike stunt at the top.
That descent down Mt. Tam sure was a bitch.
Anyway deep breathing and coughing was very painful.
Most of the time I didn't wear the rib guard wrap-around protector.
I cut back only 10-20 of my training rides and didn't go really hard
for at least a month (when I could start deep breathing again).
I turned out fine.
Everyone has a different tolerance to pain.
Your tolerance level also is affected by WHEN in the
racing season your ribs happened.
Good luck Lanois!
-Ken
> to not ride until the pain is 99.9% gone. I was going to take off
> from late October to mid-December anyway as my "off season". There is
> a great road race down here (San Diego) on Feb 2nd. I trained
> perfectly for this race last year by starting in mid-Decemeber and I'd
> like to try to do the same this year.
>
> Does anyone have experience with this? This isn't one of those "broke
> my collarbone and I was back up on the wind training 3 days later"
> situations, is it? Any advice or opinions, informed or otherwise?
<END>
Mike S.
Sorry to hear about the ribs, get better soon!
Mike
"Gerard Lanois" <gerard...@netscape.net> wrote in message
news:uwSdnavPwPD...@News.GigaNews.Com...
brian trdina
trouble breathing deeply for about 6-8 weeks, but I was still able to train
and race. Actually, the breathing that I'd do during training and racing
wasn't much of an issue, though. With 3 broken ribs, things might be
different for you, though...
The worst problem that I had was when I was sleeping. Nothing hurt when I
was on my back. However, If I acidently rolled over in my sleep, I'd just
about freak out from the pain when I got over on my stomach. Not a nice way
to wake up.
Good luck with the recovery.
"Gerard Lanois" <gerard...@netscape.net> wrote in message
news:uwSdnavPwPD...@News.GigaNews.Com...
>
>
Richard Anderson
A couple of years ago I broke five ribs and a vertebra in a bike crash. I
didn't know it until a week ago when I had a chest x-ray for an unrelated
ailment. At the time of my crash the doctor told me I probably just bruised
my ribs.
It hurt a lot especially when sleeping. If I took enough aspirin for the
pain I could usually sleep through the night. There is a technique for
sneezing and coughing when you have broken ribs. If your ribs are broken on
your right side, put your left hand in your right armpit - actually just a
little bit below your armpit so it is holding your ribs and push down on
your left hand with your right arm. If your left ribs are broken just
reverse left and right. This will brace your ribs when you cough or sneeze.
My wife who is an RN says that this technique is recommended.
"Gerard Lanois" <gerard...@netscape.net> wrote in message
news:uwSdnavPwPD...@News.GigaNews.Com...
>
>
Mike Murray
"Gerard Lanois" <gerard...@netscape.net> wrote WRT broken ribs:
"Does anyone have experience with this? This isn't one of those "broke my
collarbone and I was back up on the wind training 3 days later" situations,
is it? Any advice or opinions, informed or otherwise?"
Broken ribs all heal, pretty much regardless of your level of activity. It
is unlikely that the healing time is shortened by inactivity, within reason.
If you fall before you are fully healed you are probably at slightly greater
risk of a collapsed lung but then you can collapse a lung anytime you fall.
I think that you can do any activity that you can tolerate pain-wise. The
amount of time before you will be able to tolerate riding and racing is
variable, based on the location of the rib fracture and individuals
tolerance for pain. It is certainly possible to ride and compete within
days of breaking a rib, although that is probably not the usual case. I
certainly would not take off 6 weeks or wait until I was "100% better".
There is little reason to wait that long. I have broken ribs several times
and the time off varied from 0 to 4 weeks. The longer time was when I also
fractured my scapula and a collapsed a lung.
--
Mike Murray MD
Kinky Cowboy
(fracture goes through whole cross section of the rib), or, even more fun,
separated (fractured all the way through and the broken ends not lined up).
From my own and friends experience, rib fractures are always very painful,
but the recovery time is very variable depending on the severity of the
fractures. For the record, I was on the impact side of a Chevy Cavalier when
it got totalled by a semi doing about 50mph, 4 complete rib fractures with
100% non-alignment, causing a punctured and partially collapsed lung. I
could ride a bike "on the tops", just pottering around a few miles to the
local shops etc. within about 6 weeks, and was fully recovered except some
tolerable, intermittent pain on activity, in about 3 months. This would be
about the worst case scenario for ribs. YMMV
"Ken Papai" <k...@kenpapai.com> wrote in message
news:Mlwb9.122867$aA.27610@sccrnsc02...
>
> "Gerard Lanois" <gerard...@netscape.net> wrote in message ...
> > ...
> > I went home, cleaned up and bandaged everything. I sneezed at about
> > 10pm and just about blacked out from the pain.
> >
Tom Kunich
Aside from Dr. Murray's advice I've found that sniveling and whining a
whole lot to anyone that would listen greatly reduces the pain I'm
suffering as I transfer it to those around me.
Les Earnest
> <snip>
> to not ride until the pain is 99.9% gone. I was going to take off
> from late October to mid-December anyway as my "off season". There is
> a great road race down here (San Diego) on Feb 2nd. I trained
> perfectly for this race last year by starting in mid-Decemeber and I'd
> like to try to do the same this year.
>
> Does anyone have experience with this? This isn't one of those "broke
> my collarbone and I was back up on the wind training 3 days later"
> situations, is it? Any advice or opinions, informed or otherwise?
I've done the broken ribs gig twice, the first time with a punctured
lung which collapsed. In both cases the pain lasted about six weeks but
I found it more comfortable to ride my bike than to walk.
-Les Earnest
J999w
ride.
If you CAN do it , you MAY do it.
Let pain be your guide and don't fall again !
jw
Tom Kunich
news:3D6FA85C...@cs.stanford.edu...
>
> I've done the broken ribs gig twice, the first time with a punctured
> lung which collapsed. In both cases the pain lasted about six weeks but
> I found it more comfortable to ride my bike than to walk.
Gee Les, maybe you ought to lose some weight....