Cracked rib?

[lph]

So have I cracked a rib or not??? And if so, is there anything I can DO about it? *grumble*

Three weeks ago Sunday, I was clumsy and slid off the handlebars on my mtb bike (wet hands, no gloves), and slammed my ribs onto the left end. Didn't fall off, or over, just careened around looking mighty stupid for a few seconds.

No pain for the first day or two, just a little sore. Then it got gradually more and more sore. About ten days later I took a real fall off my mtb at high speed, breaking my helmet, skinning my right elbow and earning a monstrous bruise on my right thigh. After that I felt pretty beat up for several days, but not specifically around my ribs. Now everything else is healing, but that d*mn rib pain just won't go away. It hurts to breathe deeply, cough, laugh or sneeze, and all movements that tense my upper body. It doesn't hurt much, but a little all the time. Went climbing yesterday - not very comfortable, gave up early. Went swimming today - erk, ouch, shallow breathing.

I am so sick of this. I can feel a lump right under my left breast, but my dh swears he can't feel it, so it can't be very big.

I'm guessing now that I cracked a rib slightly the first time, and that the fall loosened things up a bit. Anyone have some encouraging tips on when I can start feeling normal again..?

Oh - biking is about the only thing that doesn't hurt at all

[teigyr]

I don't have anything encouraging but maybe go see a doctor? I know if you have trouble coughing, it can lead to other things. Just to be sure, it probably wouldn't hurt to get confirmation that it's nothing serious. My father broke his ribs and it turned into complications but then again he was older and was a former smoker. Still though...always better to be safe

I'm glad you're ok!

[emily_in_nc]

Ouch! Poor you!

I have no idea what the answer to your question is, but I took a hard fall on gravel a year ago, hitting hard on my left ribcage. I didn't even notice the rib area at first, worrying more about the scrapes on my thigh and shoulder, but over a few days, a small area of my ribcage got really sore, and it hurt to breathe in, laugh, press on it, and cough. I did a little online research and determined that it was most likely I'd just bruised a rib or two, since it gradually got better over a period of a couple of weeks. Cracked ribs take longer to heal, as I understand it, without an x-ray, you may only be able to judge after the fact whether, in fact, you cracked or only bruised a rib.

Perhaps someone here who has cracked ribs before could chime in -- unfortunately I know there are several here who have been there, done that!

Hope you heal up fast!

Emily

[boy in a kilt]

I've broken ribs a total of 4 times.

I spent 4 or 5 months last year with broken ribs. The first time I was playing ultimate frisbee. After they were about healed, I decided I hadn't done a good enough job breaking them the first time so I crashed my bike and broke them a second time.

There is nothing you can do but pick your favorite pain killer and take a lot of it.

[smilingcat]

I've broken ribs a total of 4 times.

I spent 4 or 5 months last year with broken ribs. The first time I was playing ultimate frisbee. After they were about healed, I decided I hadn't done a good enough job breaking them the first time so I crashed my bike and broke them a second time.

There is nothing you can do but pick your favorite pain killer and take a lot of it.

Please take it easy and really let your body heal first

smilingcat

[Wahine]

This does not sound like a cracked rib. A cracked rib would be very pain sensitive right at the time of injury, it wouldn't be OK then get worse over the next few days. This sounds like a subluxed (partially dislocated on a small scale) rib. This diagnosis would account for the pain you're describing as well as the small lump under the breast. I would go have it x-rayed to confirm that it's not fractured (just in case) then if not fractured go see a manual physical therapist. You have some great one's in Norway. They should be able to relocate the rib, if that is what's wrong and get you back on the right track to healing.

Hope that helps.

[lph]

Thank you everybody! Especially you Wahine. I'll get my act together and go get it x-rayed.

Dang, this is a great forum

[SouthernBelle]

agree it doesn't sound cracked. That hurts then, not later. Well it hurts later. It hurts both!

[ChickWithBrains]

I disagree- you certainly could have broken a rib!

Most rib fractures are non-displaced; they sit in the same place the bones did before the break. And most rib fractures do not show up on xrays; they show up best several weeks after the injury when the bone remodeling and healing shows up as a faint white "ghost" on an xray.

When I see patients who have the kind of symptoms you have after an injury to the chest wall, my explanation after a good physical exam is always some variant of this:

You may or may not have broken one or more ribs. We will do x-rays, but even if you do have a fracture it's likely we will not be able to see it. However, the xrays WILL tell us if the act of breaking caused any damage to your lungs which we need to do something about.

If the xrays don't show any complications, we'll treat you the same whether we see the fracture or not. Medications to control your pain, teaching you how to splint the area when you cough, and a regimen of deep breathing to keep your airways expanded and help prevent infection in the lung underlying where it hurts you. Pain leads to shallow breathing, which can lead to very small areas of your lung collapsing, which is a risk factor for infection.

For people I'm really concerned about (the elderly or poorly mobile), I prescribe a handy little device you see at the bedside of people who had surgery: an incentive spirometer. 10 times an hour, you suck on the tube of this device and a little ball goes up in a chamber. Your goal is to get the ball to hit the top of the chamber. It's like hitting the plate with the hammer at the carnival: the higher up the ball goes, the better you're doing!

Just wanted to prepare you for the same treatment whether or not you've got an (uncomplicated) rib fracture. The diagnosis is clinical, not radiologic, and dislocation is far rarer than an occult fracture on xray.

[r900]

Hi lph, I hope you have been checked out for your pain. I think this may take you a few months to get over this. I dumped my mtn bike a few years back, crashed hard on my side. The impact was painful but afterward I rode back to my vehicle and called it a day. I was sort of numb on the side of my chest and when I went to bed , I could feel a 'click-clack' sound from my sternum. I did not go to a doctor but I wish I did. Three days after my crash I felt my left lung inflate when I walked up a hill outside my home. Other than that I felt great from my experience. Sneezing made me feel like my heart could pop out of my chest. Don't be as foolish as I was. Take care and rest easy.

[Xrayted]

I actually agree with Wahine and CWB. You can have cracked or subluxed (and yes, even broken ribs) and not feel it right away. I xray pts all the time that didn't feel it until a day or two later. Sometimes it's obvious and sometimes it's hard to detect what's up. We do chest xrays along with the rib series to look at the soft tissue to make sure something isn't punctured or avulsed in the area. As for the cracks, we advise a followup set of xrays in two weeks if the original ones are inconclusive. If they were cracked, they will show a healing callous most of the time.

I'd advise some xrays just to make sure. Think of it as getting a bonus look at your heart, lungs, esophagus, mediastinum, etc in the process. I do hope everything is ok and it's just a bruising. Take care and good luck.

[lph]

Hee-hee - this extra spate of posts is just what I needed now. I went climbing again yesterday, and the pain has almost gone away, to the point where I can just feel a slight soreness to the touch and when I breathe very deeply, but it doesn't hurt. So of course... I was going to skip the x-rays...

I promise, I'll order some x-rays today. If nothing else, I'd like to know what happened.

CwB - I think I taught myself to splint the area - found out pretty fast that supporting my ribs with one hand if possible before coughing or laughing helped. Is that what you meant?

Thank you everybody for great ideas!

[silver]

For people I'm really concerned about (the elderly or poorly mobile), I prescribe a handy little device you see at the bedside of people who had surgery: an incentive spirometer. 10 times an hour, you suck on the tube of this device and a little ball goes up in a chamber. Your goal is to get the ball to hit the top of the chamber. It's like hitting the plate with the hammer at the carnival: the higher up the ball goes, the better you're doing!
.

After my broken ribs and pneumothorax (sp?) this was the device from He!! I'd cry when the therapist would come into my room.

but like you said it was important to do.