Venting: Busted Ribs

On Christmas Day, I busted up my ribs skiing. Crashed on some avy debris lightly covered in powder, and took a basketball-sized ice chunk to my left side. It hurt, a lot. But it was never debilitating - I've been able to ski since then as long as the snow is soft (thank you, El Nino).

But anything involving impact hurts, especially running. And anything involving pulling with my left arm hurts. Like climbing.

So it'll be six weeks since the injury this Thursday. According to the Internet, this kind of injury seems to last 3-6 weeks. And each week, I keep thinking, "this is the week! It'll finally stop hurting!" And then it doesn't. The acute pain is long gone. But there's still this dull ache in and between two of the ribs. Maybe the injury has morphed into an intercostal strain. I don't know.

What I do know is that every time I try a little test hang on a hangboard, or pull on a hold at the gym, it feels like the muscle is going to tear off the bone like a steak knife through tender BBQ pork ribs.

And the inconsistency is infuriating! For instance, yesterday was a good day. I woke up feeling pretty good! I did some elliptical and a little forearm and bicep work in the weight room in an attempt to feel like I won't be completely useless when I get back to climbing. I was very careful not to stress anything in my torso. I biked to the grocery store (first time on a bike in a few weeks) and didn't even feel any pain when I stood up in the pedals. A breakthrough! But then I woke up with the soreness again this morning.

If you read all that, thank you. You really didn't have to; it was pretty whiny. I guess I just want someone to tell me: is this normal? Will it actually get better? Can even using the elliptical fuck it up? Is there any exercise I can do to keep my sanity and keep weight off? Is this vexatious inconsistency in the recovery par for the course? I've never had an injury quite like this before and it's driving me nuts.

I broke three ribs on my left side playing lacrosse two years ago, and it took about two-three months before I felt 100%. Hurt like Hell doing anything. Start small and easy, but start working your core again. I started with leg lifts and easy situps. Don't go for very long either.

Was a solid 3 months for me as well when I went through this a few years ago. Sneezing was the worst! I did a lot of hiking.

It's not completely clear from your post what your actual injury is - have you seen a dr. and gotten a diagnosis? Your healing time could vary depending on whether your rib is actually broken, what type of break, and whether it's multiple ribs. There's not much that can be done medically for broken ribs except to rest, but when and how to transition from rest back into activity is key. A good PT can probably help you out with some exercises and guidelines, but regardless I'd say if you wake up one day and feel good, and immediately go out and do everything you haven't been doing for the past 6 weeks, you should probably expect to be sore again the next day. On day one of feeling pain-free, I'd probably just go about regular daily activities for a few more days, and then if you're still feeling good, very slowly introduce mild forms of your various favorite activities.

I broke a rib once but I also broke 5 vertebrae at the same time, so all I can really tell you is that by the time the vertebrae healed enough to start PT, (6 months), the rib was healed also. I can also tell you that you should make it a point to do at least a little deep breathing every day (filling your lungs to capacity) even if it hurts. The ER docs didn't mention that, but when your ribs hurt it's natural to avoid deep breaths and doing so for weeks on end can cause bad complications for your lungs. Later docs were amazed the ER docs hadn't mentioned it.

Good luck, hope you heal well and quickly!

I just messed myself up and self diagnosed a Costochondral Separation. Didn't hurt so bad day one but days 2-3-4 were super painful. Day 5 the pain has mellowed a bit and mobility is better. Definitely cognizant of taking deep breaths. Any prolonged activity w/o pain meds results in a very tight chest and bad pain if I laugh, sneeze, cough. Bummed out for sure. Says 1-3 months to heal the separation. Hoping for weeks instead! Ha!

I dislocated or broke a rib several years ago while skiing. I could feel it pop in and out of place, and the pain was pretty bad. Over a few weeks, it was popping out of place more often, and it wasn't healing. Someone recommended I go to a chiropracter, and after one session he had the rib re-seated and it started to heal. The chiropracter used to work for a pro basketball team, and pro 'ballers' are always getting elbowed in the ribs. He said it was pretty common anyway... worked for me, might help you as well.

Ribs take a long time to heal because we use the muscle groups associated with the area for just about everything day to day (I.e. breathing, walking, sitting, standing, etc). I've broken and cracked ribs and each time they take anywhere from 2-4 months to heal based on the severity of the break. Just give it time; the human body has a pretty amazing ability to heal those types of injuries.

I'm lucky that my lady's father is a chiropractor. I've already seen him twice since the accident, and continually resetting my ribs back into place in addition to muscle stim, laser, and ultrasound have helped out a ton.

Anyone use on of those rib braces with success?

I fell about 25ft to deck about a year ago. Among other things My back and ribs hurt very badly for several weeks, even sitting up was an issue. Then it was just deep breaths and sneezing that hurt. It took probably 8 months for me to have any days without pain or issues. Oddly the pain would switch from right to left rib occasionally. I still have some pain but I am nearing 100% it is for sure a time and take it easy on your body thing, listen to pain and don't do things that are painful or slowly push the limits. After initial CAT scan and an ok that nothing was actually broken no doctors. That's my 2cent I know that's not what most people would do though.

I've broke my ribs more than once. Sorry to read your story. For me, riding the subway was the worse! I too went snowboarding a couple weeks after the second time. Pills and stubbornness made it fun. I got knocked into by a ski bunny that day. That accident didn't make it worse or delay getting back healthy again.

Good luck!

Took about 6 months to fully heal in my case.

Thanks for the kind words, everyone.

It's been feeling much better this week. And it had better feel better, because I'm headed to Joshua Tree for the long weekend. To avoid overstressing it, I'm planning on focusing on low-angle climbs with long hikes. Hopefully it works out. And if it doesn't, I'll be back here complaining next week.

I'm in this f-ing boat now as well. Was topping out a boulder problem @ the gym, chest was at the lip of the bouldering wall, upper body leaning over the lip about to step up and the hold my foot was on spun. Rib came down hard on the lip (hands were holding jugs over top). Next day doing anything hurt, sitting up, opening doors, sneezing really sucked...
It has been 2.5 weeks since it happened, did some light climbing yesterday and it feels sore today. Guessing it needs a bit more time to heal.

Gold Plated Rocket Pony wrote:I'm in this f-ing boat now as well. Was topping out a boulder problem @ the gym, chest was at the lip of the bouldering wall, upper body leaning over the lip about to step up and the hold my foot was on spun. Rib came down hard on the lip (hands were holding jugs over top). Next day doing anything hurt, sitting up, opening doors, sneezing really sucked... It has been 2.5 weeks since it happened, did some light climbing yesterday and it feels sore today. Guessing it needs a bit more time to heal.

Good luck!

For me it was about 7 weeks to get back to normal, but once it finally started to heal it was good to go soon after. My advice is not to push it too fast - I think I slowed down the healing by being overanxious and trying to rush back. But that's just my experience.

I broke my ribs on the left side riding my dirtbike (2005) all the lower ones plus the floaters. Bruising was so bad it wouldn't even xray. It took about 6 months to get back to abnormal. It's uncomfortable to lay on that side to this day as the floaters are turned in a bit now and are "poky"

The things you are doing that cause pain can delay healing. Torso breaks (ribs, clavicle) can't be immobilized and take longer to heal. The meat between the ribs and the connective tissue once torn take a while to heal too.

Baby it as much as you can and it will get better faster. My .2 cents, JB

Been there, done that. Everything turned out okay and climbing through some pain didn't cause any lasting problems. As long as they aren't displaced, it shouldn't be more than a couple of months.

mountainproject.com/v/climb…

Seth Jones wrote: Oh man, I tore the cartilage around my sternum and sneezing about made me piss my pants for the first few weeks.

Fractured a sternum once..pretty bad and got a few ribs too...had to be a pallbearer the next week..that really hurt

Just broke ribs 8-9 on the left side on the 27th of December.
Went snowboarding last Friday and that was a big mistake.
Could barely breathe Saturday morning.
Still no climbing for me either. It sucks.
Broke it tobogganing, and had my 6'5" 265 pound brother inlaw land on me.
It truly was a hold my beer, watch this moment, now I'll pay for it for a few weeks yet I think.

Shared pain here. Two years ago tried to hop a log on my mountain bike, but bike and I did not agree on the direction. Landed with my side on the said log and broke two ribs. Two month before sleeping was not painful. Now recovering from rotator cuff/labrum tear from a climbing gym mishap. Thinking some kind of pattern here. Injuries stink, but I am trying to keep in mind this is integral to the fun we are having, no?

Seth Jones wrote: Oh man, I tore the cartilage around my sternum and sneezing about made me piss my pants for the first few weeks.

I broke my sternum and had a similar discomfort. Haha.. After my crash, when I woke up, my chest popped inside. The pain was unreal so I thought I punctured a lung! A week later, after I got outta the hospital I didn't feel any pain getting outta bed or standing up. I'm surprised you had pain for so long. That injury is the worse. Always bracing for the pain. Kinda reminds me of riding the NYC subway with broken ribs.

I did almost the same thing a week ago.  Tangled up my skis in some deep crud on a steep slope and fell.  It wouldn't have been a bad fall except for a giant chunk of avy debris, boulder sized, that I impacted with my chest.  Full body weight impact on my ribs on solid ice.  Knocked the wind out of me and was hard to get my breath back - felt like dying.  Anyway, wasn't too bad for the first couple of days but then pain got worse. Went in to see the doc, x-rays show old healed rib fractures but no new ones.  Now after a week it still hurts like hell if I twist or move the wrong way.  Feels like there's a demon on my back waiting to shove a steak knife into me if I forget and move the wrong way.  The worst is trying to roll over in bed.  Bug problem is I can't walk the dog - if he sees another dog and pulls or lunges it's gonna hurt bad.  I'm really bummed. And we are getting excellent snow this weekend and I can't ski!  I hope this gets better soon.