bruised ribs?

Julia Herrmann

I crashed on my cyclocross bike on Sunday.  I was pretty beat up and sore that day & Monday, but Tuesday morning left me feeling much better.  I had some pain in my hip & soreness in the groin area and that is laregely resolved.  In fact on Tuesday morning i did my ride without the slightest sense of pain or soreness.    

However, later on Tuesday I noticed soreness that to me signaled banged up ribs - dull aches when I laugh, cough, hard to open doors, etc.  Stuff that involves trunk muscles in that area was generally comproomised.  I figured that since you can't do too much for banged up ribs anyway, I swam this morning, thinking that I wouldn't be doing more damage since it's not like running on a sore knee or ankle.  This soreness had been getting slowly better, but after swimming I am defintely set back with more soreness (only in my ribs) than yesterday.  I haven't been able to get to a doctor yet, but I am beginning to wonder if maybe I pulled a trunk muscle instead....?  Is there a way to tell?  I know that now this rib/trunk thing is my coach, but are there any suggestions of things I should keep in mind for being able to train?     

tim cronk

Julia, I have a very similar story . 2 weeks ago @ the very beginning of my taper for IMKY I hurt my upper ribs in pec area pumping up a tire (don't ask). Didn't think much of it but was very very sore for days , breathing deeply , opening doors, etc. Slowly got better and then I raced a sprint 1 week ago , the heavy breathing and intensity brought it back with a vengeance. Again it slowly got better but I found swimming and intensity breathing aggravated it again. Bottom line is I feel better again and swam this am and have some short intense biking and running without a setback. It has been almost 2 weeks since injury and about 40 hours before the start of IMKY. Yours sounds so similar I guess going easy and resting as much as possible you hopefully will feel better in 2 weeks. Good Luck Tim,

Scott Alexander

Broke 3 ribs in a freak beer-involved pool accident last September ( ). Let pain be your guide for returning to activity. That kept me out for 6-7 weeks with swimming (stretching and pulling on anything) and running (anything jarring), at least 4 weeks with biking (no impact - just don't crash again). Obviously broken is more severe than bruised, but this was my experience.

Even if ribs are broken like mine were, they won't bandage or splint or do anything else unless they're displaced (completely broken).

Coach Rich

My scorecard:

• 6 broken ribs, punctured lung, chest tube and a catheter after crashing into a guard rail at 35mph on a motorcycle in '91
• Broken collar bone, bike accident, fall 2001. Came out of left pedal at full sprint at 32mph+ (I was still accellerating, smartasses)
• Badlly bruised ribs and wind knocked out of me on a snowboard fall this past March. Very first run on the very last day on the easy easy easy hill. Grrr...

Docs can't do anything about any of these (collar bone didnt' require surgery) other than send you out the door with a fist full of pills. As Scott said, pain is your guide.

Julia Herrmann

Yow, guys!!  Well, I guess it's good to know I'm not the only one who has done something like this.  Since I can't take much in the way of standard pain pills,   I will just go by the pain guide as you say and not worry about the doc right now. My doc is actually great, but I can't afford a scan or other cool things at the moment.  As I learned today, resting a little bit now will help.  Just like not resting will hurt.    Even if the hurt is not in my legs.  GGAAHHH! 

Thanks so much for the input!  I feel much better now. 

jneedell

I crashed a few weeks ago and everyone gave me the good advice of take it easy and go to the doc. You may want to check out Phenocane for natural pain relief. Get better soon.