Riding with broken ribs.... thoughts?
 

So 3 weeks ago I did a bachelor party for my brother, since he doesnt drink I took him to go-kart racing school with some friends at Infineon raceway.

I crashed the kart sideways at abou 30mph (we were hitting about 75mph on the straights) and the fiberglass seat bolsters jabbed my side and I'm sure I have a broken rib.

Hard to sleep, cant turn on my side, pinching pain if I bend too much, and hasnt gone away in 3 weeks.

I havent tried riding sonce I was nervous of the pain and try heal.

A friend of mine just gave me a CycleOps fluid trainer and in the last 2 days spent about 3 hours on it. I am getting some pain and increased soarness after riding.

Is there any extra harm in riding? Am I delaying healing? Its been a long time since I broke a rib but I remember it taking a month or two to heal.

Thanks for the advice.

There is always harm in delaying the healing. If you try riding and it hurts then you should probably stop. I've ridden with broken ribs a few times, it's usually fine but it's hard to stand up and/or sprint.

If it hurts, don't do it. And don't fall. Really, really don't fall.

+1

broken ribs=punctured lungs
careful

Have you gone to a doctor to see if it really is broken? Might just be badly bruised.

Depends on how broken... if they are that broken then it would hurt too much to get on a bike let alone ride...

This was one of mine

http://www.photoscene.com/kimandsteve/images/3692.jpg

Yeah, doctor felt them and said no need for xrays since theres nothing to do, cant cast them and they werent out of place.

So thats why Im on the trainer cause I dont want to fall or have the pain get real bad and Im way out in the middle of nowhere....

They are to the point where I can sleep on them better, about 3 weeks since accident.

Thanks for the insights.

I've ridden with a broken rib from a crash. It hurt, especially when I was going hard and breathing deep. The Doc gave me a prescription for the nsaid Feldene (piroxocam). It worked like a miracle and I could ride without pain. YRMV.

i rode with broken ribs , collarbone and scapula, yes standing was a pain, but breathing hard was the worst,took me 10 days of riding before i could breath hard, and that was 4weeks after being off the bike. i would just take it easy and slowly work back to riding

I'll say: ride as the pain allows. You won't be able to breath very hard, and it'll hurt to stand on the pedals and for god's sake, don't laugh at your friend's joke no matter how funny... but you should be able to ride if you can stand the pain.

It took me a month or more to get to the point where I was able to breath well on the bike, and in the process, I found that a good hard sprint made it easier to breath afterwards (don't do this straightaway; this was a week or so after I started riding again). I got back on my bike about a week after the crash.

Broken ribs are a pain in the side. When I was in my 20s I broke two ribs when I wiped out on a pier piling while surfing. After a couple of weeks I went back into the water, but it was painful for quite a while. I don't know about riding a bike other than to say it isn't a structural bone for cycling and it would probably be more about managing pain than anything else.

I broke a rib in a crash 3 weeks ago and finally got back on the bike today for 33 miles. It really depends on how much it hurts and what kind of range of motion you have. I have actually raced (and placed) about a year ago with a broken rib. I think the chance of puncturing your lung is fairly low--as someone else said, it depends on what kind of fracture. The worst thing would be to crash again. I've done that, too. No fun. I've broken four ribs in four separate crashes, so I'm an expert. ;)

Riding , I'd be lucky to get out of bed.

Don't do it, It'll take for ever to heel if your lucky. If you're not lucky.....

Can't even swing a bat with that problem.

Why take a chance? Ribs get great circulation and they heal pretty quickly. I broke three of them two years ago and they were completely healed in less than 3 weeks.
I'd take a week off, then spend two weeks just doing low-intensity recovery rides and one-leg drills. This setback might be just the thing to work on your spin-form and wind the season down.

OP broke ribs 3 weeks ago...

I broke two ribs in a crash two years ago and started training again about 3 days later and continued racing throughout the season. However, I spent the rest of the season only riding tempo at the front for my teammates and the one time I tried standing up and hammering I paid for it big time.

If they're still giving him trouble, perhaps he should've asked this question 3 weeks ago too.

[edit: OP: All this bending, twisting and rolling over in your sleep is delaying the healing. Avoid doing ANYTHING that causes the pinching sensation. And it will probably heal faster if you can reduce your intake of coffee & soft drinks, and eat half of a fresh (not canned) pineapple every day. Good luck.]

As nutty as I get when kept off the bike- pain still creates one's limits....Broken ribs are weakened and another rip might push them into your lungs.. That was the beginning of my dad's demise.. I recall all too well the pain even associated with deep breathing or the occasional cough..

I cracked my ribs in a crash back in 1997.

I tried to ride the next day, but returned home almost right away, and threw up from the pain. So I took the next day off, and was back on the bicycle again the following day.

I found that the cycling position ... leaning forward with my hands on the handlebars ... was the most comfortable position. It allowed my rib cage to swing forward and just hang there. All other positions, walking, standing, sitting, lying down, were very painful.

So I rode a lot!!


BTW - my most comfortable sleeping position was with a body pillow along the side with cracked ribs (left side), and tucked under my hip and shoulder so that I was lying at about a 45 degree angle with my cracked ribs up in the air. Then I tucked a pillow under my knees, and had a neck pillow around my neck. This combination of pillows kept me from moving around in my sleep and ws probably the most comfortable combination I could come up with.

It was 6 weeks before I could lie on my left at all, and another 2 weeks before I could stay there for any length of time.

Those with broken ribs as I recall. Did not sleep in bed but instead on their stratolounger.

If it hurts, stop.
I broke two ribs a few years ago, breathing was a painful, laughing was excruciating, there are no words in the english language that describe the pain in sneezing. However, like Machka, riding was actually quite comfortable, but sprints and hard climbs were a no-no. It took three or four months before I considered myself good, and six months until I felt fully healed. Meaning no pain or discomfort at all.

Thanks for the replies. I'm taking it easy, staying on the trainer for now.

Doesnt sound like anyones died from riding 3 weeks after breaking ribs so I think I'm cool. If I delay my healing by a few weeks I dont really care adn the pain is more of just a discomfort.

Old thread but bumping because I fell Thursday and broke a front rib over my left chest. ( I've broken a right back one in 07) I'm off riding until Thursday and a big ride Saturday. I hope I'm feeling OK.

When I fell, I think the drop part of the handle bar and my rib became one..ouch.