Rib Injury

Lidocaine patches help a lot for the pain. They had my dad so doped up in the hospital that I figured he was going to get worse, but the patches helped a lot. You can get them over the counter or stronger ones of you have a doctor that can write you a prescription.

Don’t sneeze, don’t cough, don’t laugh and don’t fart.

Don’t think there is much you can do unfortunately, other than advil or a pain rub med of some kind. I took a handlebar to the ribs last summer and it lingered for a long time

Time. Thats all. I just bruised a few in July and it took about 10 days for normal activity and just now pain free. Almost 40 days.

Cracked ribs in practice once, and made it halfway though the race and I gave in. the medic tried to get me up into the cart I said to just bury me next to the track.
definitely no sneezing, and holding in the sneeze is worse dont do that either

I broke 6 on the right side about 2 weeks ago. It's been slow progress.

Here are my tips:
Use a wedge pillow so that you can sleep a little upright. Several advantages. It is infinitely easier to get up and out of bed. It also takes some pressure off your ribs and will help you sleep. I also have long pillows on either side of me to prevent me from moving or rolling while sleeping. Getting quality sleep is going to be the most critical thing for a faster recovery. If you keep waking up a bunch overnight, then that's not good.

Try to do some very light stretching if you can. I found that limiting my movement to protect my rib makes my entire back really, really sore. Keeping my back loose helps me sleep longer before it starts hurting.

Don't try to be a hero; take some pain meds. This advice came from my doctor. He had a much more articulate and professional way of explaining it, but basically, your body's ability to heal is compromised if it is feeling pain. Pain flags other physiological responses that will delay the healing process.

Good luck!

Don’t accidentally inhale a couple grains of rice while eating. Ask me how I know….. 😖

I’m about 2 weeks out from breaking 4, dislocating 2 and of course severe bruising. It’s been a long 2 weeks for sure. Wife forced me to go to the ER because I had a swelling on both side of my spine and could barely sit-up. More less a wasted trip to found out about my ribs. They gave me 3 days of pain pills which didn’t do much.
Day to day activities haven’t been bad but sleeping has been a major issue. Like someone mentioned above wedging a pillow just right helps. I've never been a back sleeper and exclusively sleep on the side I hurt.

I choked on a some food last week, started coughing and damn near ended up going to the ER for the pain. It took about 3hrs for my side muscles to quit and twitching from the pain.

I’m not a big weed guy or anything like that but I was having so much trouble with sleeping I bought some edibles and cbd pain relief stuff. Well I got sicker than hell from the edible. Puking I damn near broke me.
But I do believe that stuff would work if you could find the right balance.

So ibuprofen and Zzz Quil has been my nightly routine for the last week or so. Gets me to 3am I wake up and stretch and take more ibuprofen and then somewhat sleep to 6ish.

I would say my pain tolerance is pretty extreme but mix pain with zero sleep and it’s been pretty miserable.

I’m dealing with 4 broken ribs currently, and like everyone says, sleeping is the worst. I have been falling asleep in bed, then getting up and sitting on my reclining couch after it starts to hurt too much. I take a Vicodin before I go to bed, but I’m not sure how much it helps. A neighbor brought me a gummy to try last night before bed, and I slept better than I have since I got hurt. I’ll be replacing or at least supplementing the Vicodin with gummies from this point forward until my ribs stop hurting and I can go back to sleeping on my side.

I've broken my ribs 4 times. As you see, getting in and out of bed is a bitch! You basically need to get in and out like a Navy Seal gets in and out of the boat to get into water. Just flip yourself out of that shit onto the floor. Another HUGE tip for getting in and out of bed is to twist your t-shirt very tight around your ribs. You'll most likely ruin this shirt by the end of the week. This was the only way that helped: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq3PxLSjxmg

Worst pain I ever had. I bruised my lung too and had to keep coughing. I wanted to die. It hurts but breathe deeply. you don't want to get pneumonia.

Everything previously said holds true, I’ll add: Avoid comedy. I broke 3 a few years ago, about two weeks later watched some dumb movie that got me laughing and crying at the same time. Only take pain meds at bedtime, and learn to live on 5-6 hours of sleep.

I had to ride in 9-10 miles of whooped out desert, the concussion seemed to help me forget the pain..

Done em twice. No fix other than time. Been wearing a fox raptor the last few years after the breaks but have since switched to an astar a-4 for a bit more comfort. Definitely think the raptor would’ve prevented or lessened it. The a-4 not so sure

As mentioned, the key is sleeping on an angle, laying flat is brutal!!! I slept in my recliner and it made all the difference in the world! Good luck!

Time is your only remedy.

I’m still pretty fresh, but judging myself on how well I sleep.

Let pain be your guide. I was able to MTB the following week, but still hurt like hell to sneeze.

Just recovering from my 2nd big off within the last 12months, 1st one saw broken shoulder blade(pinned and plated) and 2 broken ribs, this time multiple fractures to all ribs down left side and fractured pelvis. Needed a drain putting into the chest cavity to help my breathing, which was a hideous procedure to go through.

Getting up in the morning is the worse part and the pain meds bunged me up, so wasn't looking forward to the 1st turd since the accident, full weeks worth.

Best advice would be eat carefully, choking will have you wishing for death. Have a cushion or rolled up towel to squeeze against the ribs when coughing or worse sneezing, and don't look at the thread 'Hey Photoshop folks!".