Busted Ribs

[Martial D]

So 10 days ago I fractured a couple ribs in a freak bjj accident. It sucks balls because I can't do anything strenuous, including train. It's killing me man.

My question is for anyone that has suffered a similar injury, or trains with someone that has.

How long did it take to heal up enough to resume training? The doc says 6 weeks, but what does he know...

 

[jobo]

So 10 days ago I fractured a couple ribs in a freak bjj accident. It sucks balls because I can't do anything strenuous, including train. It's killing me man.

My question is for anyone that has suffered a similar injury, or trains with someone that has.

How long did it take to heal up enough to resume training? The doc says 6 weeks, but what does he know...

It depends on your pain threshold, six weeks before it's mended, 3weeks to get back doing at least light training if you can stand the dicomfort, people play foitball/ soccer with strapped up broken ribs

 

[Tez3]

So 10 days ago I fractured a couple ribs in a freak bjj accident. It sucks balls because I can't do anything strenuous, including train. It's killing me man.

My question is for anyone that has suffered a similar injury, or trains with someone that has.

How long did it take to heal up enough to resume training? The doc says 6 weeks, but what does he know...

What you have to be careful of is the fractured ribs puncturing a lung so don't train until they are healed. Fractured ribs shouldn't be strapped up now, the thinking on this has been revised and it causes more problems than leaving them unstrapped.
Broken or bruised ribs

 

[dvcochran]

So 10 days ago I fractured a couple ribs in a freak bjj accident. It sucks balls because I can't do anything strenuous, including train. It's killing me man.

My question is for anyone that has suffered a similar injury, or trains with someone that has.

How long did it take to heal up enough to resume training? The doc says 6 weeks, but what does he know...

If you didn’t fracture a bone, it is likely a soft tissue injury which in my opinion hurts much worse than a bone break. I have had this happen a few times and was told by the doc if I could handle the pain go ahead and workout being very protective of the injured area.
One time I had a full nondisplaced break and a cracked on adjoining ribs. Months after the bones healed if I torqued or stretched too much the soft tissue would send me a stabbing reminder that it wasn’t fully healed.

 

[pdg]

Oddly, I have a rib injury sustained a week ago during sparring... Pretty sure it's a crack.

Work still goes on though being self employed means no work = no pay so not a lot of choice - just watch what I'm doing.

I'm still attending classes, but in more of a consulting capacity (i.e. I'm consulting them about stuff )

It's a complete pain in more ways than one - I can't lie on my back, or my front. Warmup exercises just aren't happening (well, squats and jogging is bearable...) More sparring is definitely out for a bit.

Kickboxing grading at the end of the month? Don't know about that yet.

Still, never mind eh?

 

[Dirty Dog]

Not surprisingly, your Dr is correct.

Ribs (pretty much any bone...) typically take 6-8 weeks to heal.

Do not strap/tape the ribs. This is a purely Hollywood thing.

Because it hurts, people with rib injuries tend to take shallow breaths. This leads to fun things like pneumonia. So you need to be forcing yourself to breathe deeply, fully expanding the lungs, and cough. Hard. Yes, it will hurt. Do it anyway. You can support the ribs with a pillow while you're doing this. You need to be doing this at least every hour while you're awake.

Most of the pain from the injury is inflammation, so anti-inflammatories are your friend. Motrin or Naproxen would be my choice. Narcotics... meh. They may make you feel better, but they suppress the respiratory drive (see above about pneumonia). Maybe the first couple days, but after that I'd stay away from them.

You need to avoid impact injuries during that time, since those can shift the bone-ends. That can prevent union, and could injure the lung or other underlying structures. While unlikely, when these injuries do occur, they're potentially life threatening.

In 3-4 weeks you should be able to start increasing your activity level. Mild workouts will be fine, but exercise that puts a heavy strain on the chest muscles... not so much.

 

[jks9199]

Narcotics... meh. They may make you feel better, but they suppress the respiratory drive (see above about pneumonia). Maybe the first couple days, but after that I'd stay away from them.

Suppress respiratory drive enough, and tbe ribs WILL stop hurting. Forever...

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[Buka]

Listen to your doc.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Okay, so you've gotten some pretty informed opinions (and one extremely informed one), so I'll toss in a pretty uninformed one for the informed people to take shots at.

Your main concerns are not to delay healing, and not to make things worse. The good news is that doing the former pretty much insures you don't do the latter. So, in addition to what @Dirty Dog said about breathing exercises, etc., look for easy exercise you can do that doesn't hurt much (it'll all hurt). You want to keep moving as much as you can, so find exercise that doesn't strain that specific area of the ribs. After 3-4 weeks, you can probably go back to some easy flow drills (think early mount escapes where you then pass guard into mount and then your partner has his turn), so long as you work with someone who has very good control and will keep it smooth and easy. This is an opportunity for you to work on your relaxation and movement, against nearly no resistance (resistance will raise the possibility of re-injury). Keep taking it easy and letting it heal, and you'll be back to training in 6 weeks or so. Do too much, too soon, and you'll need longer.

Oh, and be ready for the recovery period you'll need after healing. You're going to lose a bit of muscle in areas you don't move as much in that time, and you'll probably have a bit of inflexibility around the injured area. The soft training will help limit both of these, but they'll still happen.

Lastly, don't be like me. Listen to your doc.

 

[Danny T]

Not surprisingly, your Dr is correct.

Ribs (pretty much any bone...) typically take 6-8 weeks to heal.

Do not strap/tape the ribs. This is a purely Hollywood thing.

Because it hurts, people with rib injuries tend to take shallow breaths. This leads to fun things like pneumonia. So you need to be forcing yourself to breathe deeply, fully expanding the lungs, and cough. Hard. Yes, it will hurt. Do it anyway. You can support the ribs with a pillow while you're doing this. You need to be doing this at least every hour while you're awake.

Most of the pain from the injury is inflammation, so anti-inflammatories are your friend. Motrin or Naproxen would be my choice. Narcotics... meh. They may make you feel better, but they suppress the respiratory drive (see above about pneumonia). Maybe the first couple days, but after that I'd stay away from them.

You need to avoid impact injuries during that time, since those can shift the bone-ends. That can prevent union, and could injure the lung or other underlying structures. While unlikely, when these injuries do occur, they're potentially life threatening.

In 3-4 weeks you should be able to start increasing your activity level. Mild workouts will be fine, but exercise that puts a heavy strain on the chest muscles... not so much.

Have broken ribs on multiple occasions and a pneumothorax.
This has been my experience. No taping, breathing exercises every hour for approx 5 minutes using an Incentive Spirometer for inhalation and coughing after 10 inhalations. (Painful!!) It can be done without the spirometer which has a gauge giving you a visual goal to achieve vs just inhaling until it hurts. Prevents fluid build up and/or infections in the lungs (pneumonia).

 

[Deafdude#5]

I too had my ribs broken during testing. Was the most painful thing ever. Rest & healing takes priority. Listen to your doc.

Forget about taping. You need to fully expand your lungs and constricting it will lead to lung problems such as bronchitis & pneumonia.

Do take it easy & do the breathing exercises. It took me about 3 months to fully heal but another 6 months to feel comfortable and work out the kinks & knots.

Good luck!

 

[JR 137]

A dojo mate of mine said “what do doctors know” years ago. This was long ago before I knew him...

He was training at the Kyokushin Hollywood dojo back in the early 80s. Kyokushin is bare knuckle, full contact karate. Being an active duty Army guy, Kyokushin guy, and that dojo, he figured he’d tough it out and keep going. Bronchitis turned into pneumonia. Infection set in between his muscle and ribs. He was hospitalized and had several ribs removed. He almost died. Could’ve avoided it all if he just took a few weeks off. Yes that’s an extreme example, but I’m pretty sure he also thought “that’s not going to happen to me.”

Also...
If you’ve never heard of the Kyokushin Hollywood dojo back in the 80s, it was a veritable who’s who of Kyokushin in the US. Dolph Lundgren was there on and off during those days. That was right before he was known as Ivan Drago. ‘Nuff said.

 

[JowGaWolf]

So 10 days ago I fractured a couple ribs in a freak bjj accident. It sucks balls because I can't do anything strenuous, including train. It's killing me man.

My question is for anyone that has suffered a similar injury, or trains with someone that has.

How long did it take to heal up enough to resume training? The doc says 6 weeks, but what does he know...

ha ha ha... dude.. just sit your but down, and find another hobby for the time being. It's going to be long healing time period for you. The best you can do is occupy your time with something else to your mind off the fact that you can't train. The last thing you want to do is to try to get back to training too soon, because that will make the healing time longer.

FOCUS ON HEALING. FOCUS ON HEALING. FOCUS ON HEALING. And you may end up being back in action sooner than expected. This is me speaking from real life personal experience of a second degree burn on my hand. I put all of my focus (mentally, diet, sleep, and spiritual focus (if you have one)) on healing the would. I ended up baffling the doctors.
1. I didn't have pain like the doctor's were expecting.
2. I healed much faster than what the doctors were expecting
3. Didn't have the scar tissue that the doctor's expected me to have during the healing process.
4. Didn't have the life long scars on my hand either.

It was the only time I had ever focused on the action of healing and my recovery time amazed the doctors. To me I just wanted to heal as quickly as possible so I could spend my summer with my girlfriend who lived in another state (I was in my 20's) and my injured hand was about to cause a delay. While our injuries were different, your focus on healing should not be. There is already records of people healing from injuries that doctors believed were permanent. The only similarity is that the person focused on healing.

Being frustrated about not being able to train will slow your healing process down. Redirect your energy and your focus to the task of healing and enjoy life. If it helps think of Healing Focus as part of your training.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Honestly, my personal opinion at this point...take the time the doctors say, and add a month to it. I just finished doing it myself..it sucks, but in reality id rather sacrifice one month of MA being extra cautious, then a lifetime because i wasnt cautious enough. It just means too much to me.

 

[Tez3]

A dojo mate of mine said “what do doctors know” years ago. This was long ago before I knew him...

I knew a chap like that, he was in his 30s and one of those train through a cold/flu people, sweat it out etc. people. He was told by medics not to but did and suffered a heart attack. His heart was damaged,(myocarditis) caused by the virus attacking the heart which becomes enlarged and inefficient He survived but was medically discharged from the army. I'm sure someone said 'told you so'.

 

[JowGaWolf]

I knew a chap like that, he was in his 30s and one of those train through a cold/flu people, sweat it out etc. people. He was told by medics not to but did and suffered a heart attack. His heart was damaged,(myocarditis) caused by the virus attacking the heart which becomes enlarged and inefficient He survived but was medically discharged from the army. I'm sure someone said 'told you so'.

The only thing I know is that I don't study or practice medicine like doctors do, so when I get things that are part of what study, then it's better that I get a doctor and address the issue when it's not a big issue. I still delay sometime, but the delay isn't "Well, I'll wait for it to get worst." My doctors tell me if something doesn't start to get better within a week then come see him. I stick to that advice unless it's something that I know I need to see a doctor right away for. If things start to get worse within the week, then I'm off to see the doctor.

 

[Martial D]

The only thing I know is that I don't study or practice medicine like doctors do, so when I get things that are part of what study, then it's better that I get a doctor and address the issue when it's not a big issue. I still delay sometime, but the delay isn't "Well, I'll wait for it to get worst." My doctors tell me if something doesn't start to get better within a week then come see him. I stick to that advice unless it's something that I know I need to see a doctor right away for. If things start to get worse within the week, then I'm off to see the doctor.

I have far less faith in doctor's than that.

Here's an example of why. Several years ago(more like 2 decades) I had a really bad hernia. Serious protrusion, discomfort etc. Two doctors told me it was impossible to heal naturally and I absolutely needed surgery. A bit of time passed. It healed naturally.

 

[JowGaWolf]

I have far less faith in doctor's than that.

Here's an example of why. Several years ago(more like 2 decades) I had a really bad hernia. Serious protrusion, discomfort etc. Two doctors told me it was impossible to heal naturally and I absolutely needed surgery. A bit of time passed. It healed naturally.

This doesn't sound like 2 doctors who don't know what they were talking about. It sounds like something I would say, if I knew the outcome of one action and not the outcome of another. If you had a serious protrusion, then I would definitely go with surgery as my answer, because I know that would fix the protrusion issue. Healing naturally? What does that even mean or consist of. We all know what it doesn't include, but we never know what exactly that natural healing process may consist of.

Sometimes the issue isn't about healing as much as it is about healing correctly. One can break their leg and not set it, and the body will still try to heal it. If it is successful then the body did what it was supposed to do, however because it wasn't set, it may have not healed correctly or in a manner that would allow you to use the leg as you did before. If you have to make a medical statement to a patient then it better be the one that will keep you out of the most legal trouble.

All of this isn't to say that there aren't doctors who really don't know what they are doing. I've had a doctor that I had a degenerative spinal condition and that I would need surgery to stop the back pain. So I took a look at my life and tried to figure out what am I doing throughout the day that may be causing damage to my spine. When I took a look at my bed, I thought maybe the bed was causing the problem. So I slept on the floor to test it out. My back started to get better and the pain was less. Turns out that I didn't need surgery, I just needed a new mattress. The doctor just wanted to make money off of me. There are doctors that are like that. However, his focus doesn't cancel out the value of other doctors.

I use both a good modern medicine doctor and a good alternative medicine doctor. I think of doctors like apples. Just because you bite into a bad one doesn't mean you avoid the rest of the apples on the tree.

 

[Martial D]

This doesn't sound like 2 doctors who don't know what they were talking about. It sounds like something I would say, if I knew the outcome of one action and not the outcome of another. If you had a serious protrusion, then I would definitely go with surgery as my answer, because I know that would fix the protrusion issue. Healing naturally? What does that even mean or consist of. We all know what it doesn't include, but we never know what exactly that natural healing process may consist of.

Sometimes the issue isn't about healing as much as it is about healing correctly. One can break their leg and not set it, and the body will still try to heal it. If it is successful then the body did what it was supposed to do, however because it wasn't set, it may have not healed correctly or in a manner that would allow you to use the leg as you did before. If you have to make a medical statement to a patient then it better be the one that will keep you out of the most legal trouble.

All of this isn't to say that there aren't doctors who really don't know what they are doing. I've had a doctor that I had a degenerative spinal condition and that I would need surgery to stop the back pain. So I took a look at my life and tried to figure out what am I doing throughout the day that may be causing damage to my spine. When I took a look at my bed, I thought maybe the bed was causing the problem. So I slept on the floor to test it out. My back started to get better and the pain was less. Turns out that I didn't need surgery, I just needed a new mattress. The doctor just wanted to make money off of me. There are doctors that are like that. However, his focus doesn't cancel out the value of other doctors.

I use both a good modern medicine doctor and a good alternative medicine doctor. I think of doctors like apples. Just because you bite into a bad one doesn't mean you avoid the rest of the apples on the tree.

My point isn't that I don't believe in medical science, it's that I recognize it isn't infallible, and the doctors that practice it can vary wildly in skill and competency.

I think far too many people put absolute faith in what doctors say, when their hit rate is still pretty spotty around the board.

 

[Tez3]

From what I've read and seen though the advice for broken ribs is the same from all medical sites and doctors.

The issue of doctors making money off patients is a political one and should probably not be discussed here but I will say that when I go to the doctor I may worry about a lot of things ie whether he/she knows what is wrong etc but the idea of them making money out of me doesn't arise at all because I know it's not an issue.