Anyone fractured a rib before?

[TheGrinch]

I came off yesterday during a practice session and landed on my left side. I hit the dirt fairly hard. Another rider stopped and picked my bike up off me while I was trying to get my breath. My knee and ribs ached a little, but I was able to continue riding.

However last night and especially today, my ribs are quite sore. It hurts to take deep breaths, and is quite painful when I sneeze. When I lightly press on my ribs, they feel tender but not excessively painful. I'm hoping I have only bruised my ribs.

I assume I'd be in a lot more pain when I press on them if they were fractured?

 

[COLEMANAPP]

That's pretty much like the fractured one's feel like. No doctor here but unless they punctured a lung, there really isnn't much for treating them but rest and try to take deep breaths now and again. Mainly a function of keeping your lungs cleaned out. My last prescription read 4-6 weeks. You don't want to reinjure by putting yourself out there too early. SEE YOUR DOCTOR.
Good luck,
Bob

 

[Timr]

I've done this twice. The first time, after about a week of pain, I called my Dr. and he sent me straight to get an X-ray. The x-ray tech comes in and says, "Yep, they're broke."

There really is nothing that they do and long and they aren't displaced. The 2nd time, I had the ambulance guys at the track tell me that hey thought two of them were broke, but they weren't displaced. He gave the usual disclaimer, if you have trouble breathing and so on go to the emergency room.

I will tell you this, from a comfort point of view. I took my kidney belt and wrapped it around my rib cage. That constant pressure seemed to make everything feel better. Of course, I put my kidney belt in the wash first since it smelled so bad. Also, I wore a T-shirt underneath it. I didn't take the thing off for about 2 weeks.

Good luck.
Tim

 

[wgwgoldwing]

I know that pain, video here:

http://www.longhairedhippydude.com/mxvideo.html

Click on the "Crash" picture.

Kinda big (14mb), but watch what my kids do while I'm rolling on the ground trying to breathe.

Same deal, couldn't breathe, but 10 minutes later I was back in the saddle (after some minor handle bar surgery). Later that evening and the next morning, coughing, deep breathes, even laughing would light me up in pain on that side. No doc, I figured they were just bruised. Pain finally went away after about 2 or 3 weeks.

Now when I crash, the kids are pretty quick to get to me due to all the static they got over this video. Good times....



WGW

 

[CaptainObvious]

Add me to your list. In three weeks the pain will be half as bad. In six weeks you'll be as good as new. Nothing you can do except drink milk...and try not to laugh for a few days.

 

[High Lord Gomer]

Several years ago (and a few months after crashing Okie's Mamba in IL) I was riding with a friend who had recently gotten faster than me. He went to pass me on the inside and I gassed it hard and went waay too fast (for me) down the hill and into a rough, whooped out section. I backed off the gas and hit them fast in 4th. After swapping a few times I high-sided and landed on my shoulder. It knocked the wind out of me and I was spitting out sand when he pulled up and asked, "Does this mean I *win*?!?"

When I got to the hospital they told me, "You broke your collarbone and ribs 6 and 7. Oh, and 9, 10, and 11 are healing nicely."

The lower down they are (higher number), the worse it is. I couldn't breathe or even stand up straight for two weeks when I broke 9, 10, and 11, but I was riding again in 5 1/2 weeks after breaking 6 and 7.

 

[TheGrinch]

Quick update - After a restless sleep, I woke up this morning and without thinking stretched my hands overhead. This quickly resulted in a memory jog - ribs are sore you idiot!. I also felt & heard a few popping noises like cartilidge moving. This made me a little more concerned that I may have done more than just bruise them.

I was avoiding going to a doctor, because I went for an xray once before when I thought I may have a fracture - I didn't. Secondly, as many of you have mentioned, there is not a lot that can be done about it. Maybe I should still get an xray done to be sure?

Thanks for sharing.

 

[TheGrinch]

wgwgoldwing - I just watched your video. :ride: You don't have your'e kids doped up to the eyeballs do you? Because I have never seen a slower set of reactions (or should I say concern).Your kids weren't exactly in a hurry to see if you were OK. What cracked me up was the one who approached but then stopped to rest his foot on the shovel. Not one of them bent down to see if you were OK. At least they picked up the bike! ;)

I don't know how you did that. Your take off was good and your landing looked good until of course you fell sideways.

 

[wgwgoldwing]

Yeah, my thought when I saw the vid for the first time was "hmmmm, dad's a goner, save the bike". But, actually in thier defense, they thought I was faking (not really hurt). I promptly explained to them (once I could breathe and talk) that I had nevered faked an injury nor ever will.

I remember being at the top of my flight and the bike suddenly tipping to the right side. At the time it seemed like I was completely horizontal, but or course I wasn't. I'm guessing I must have loaded the right foot peg and came down slightly "tilted" sideways. I knew on the way down, pain was in my very near future.

WGW

 

[YamaB]

I've cracked a rib before... In my case, it hurt like HELL when you touched it... It healed up on its own finally, but I was sore for a LONG time...

- BA

 

[Jeff Gilbert]

I fit into this category. One day while out flying my bike, it stopped but I didn't. From 3rd gear pinned to dead stop, the ribs were no match for the bars though neither escaped injury. I managed to snap my renthals off at the bar mounts with my chest; it was the only thing in the way between the ground and me. After my chest broke the bars I spun and landed on my back on the ground. I felt and heard some serious crunching and popping on that impact too, but wait, there's more. As I hit the ground the other end of the bars met my spleen. My buddy reacted much in the same fashion as your kids did, he said "you better get up and ride or you're gonna be sore." I got up as fast as I possibly could, got on the bike & tried to finish my lap. That's when I noticed my bars were broken. I made my way to a picnic table and tried to stretch out and then I knew I was really hurt. It took everything I had to load that pos up in the truck and make it home. That was the most painful 7 weeks I ever spent.
It was about 3 to 4 weeks into the healing process that one of the girls at work was kidding around with me and pushed me in the chest, I could've cried. There was no way I was gonna tell them at work I got hurt riding that dangerous motorcycle.
After several days of excruciating pain in my ribs the pain shifted to my back, then to my spleen, then back to my ribs. I'll never forget those 7 weeks. I promise it took me 10 to 15 minutes to get in & out of bed. Had to sleep propped up and Lord help me when I had to sneeze, cough or go to the bathroom. I still have a knot in my chest and sometimes it still bothers me. All this happened around March 2001.

 

[bhiner]

Ditto....Seperated my Ribs/sternum playing football. I remember wondering if I should shoot myself before I sneezed again...Pepper, Ragweed, and Dust are the DEVIL!!!!
Time heals all wounds in this case 6-8wks.

 

[roadrash1]

WGW,
The first time I saw the crash, I thought....Gawd, that was the most squidly thing I'd ever seen on a dirtbike! :laugh: Then I listened to the wind blowing, and wondered if you caught a strong right crosswind? Riding in South Dakota a lot, I have been laid over by the wind on a jump before. Even crashed once because of it.
Broke or cracked my ribs once, but it was at the same time as I snapped a collarbone, so it seemed like the least of my problems.....until I sneezed. Ouch!

 

[firecracker22]

I've torched ribs a couple of times. I never went to the doc for them, since I know they can't do anything. But you can break, crack, bruise or sprain them--sprains are actually pretty common since the connective tissues will give way before the bones will. It ALL hurts.

Hope you heal up. The kidney belt thing helps, tried that before.

 

[libskater]

i broke a lot of my ribs one time.... its not fun to breathe or do anything for that matter. you just have to give them time to heal up.