What were you able to do with your broken rib?

July 10, 2022 4:04 PM

When you had a broken rib, how much did it limit your activity? I fell four days ago and have all the symptoms of a broken rib--can't take a deep breath; hurts to laugh, cough, sneeze, etc.; have to sleep propped up; hurts to bend over. Internet says don't waste money on an x-ray because it doesn't change the treatment. But despite the pain, I am able to function okay. I can do basic stretching, household chores, walk the dog, etc. It's not comfortable but it's fine. Does that mean it's likely not broken? Or is that normal for a broken rib?
posted by HotToddy to Health & Fitness (14 answers total)

I think any time you can't take a deep breath and you have bad internal pain, it's worth it to find out exactly what the problem is, even if there's nothing they can do to help you, you never know that for sure until everyone can see what's happening with their eyes.
posted by bleep at 4:22 PM on July 10, 2022 [2 favorites]

Your symptoms are similar to mine when I last assumed I had a broken rib. They resolved as expected.
posted by alexei at 4:26 PM on July 10, 2022

I once had enough rib pain that I had to fight back tears while hobbling to a clinic. The doctor did not think I needed an x-ray, told me it was probably just a hairline fracture, and sent me on my way. It gradually got less painful.
posted by coffeecat at 4:35 PM on July 10, 2022

I fell on my back and broke a rib. If you aren't having other issues, then yeah you can probably skip the X-ray. They can't do jack squat about a broken rib. BUT, depending on how it is broken, surgery might be necessary. Take that for what it's worth, medical advice from a rando on the internet.

At first it was painful. I took ibuprofen, a lot. Probably 400mg twice a day or so. Night was the worst as I am a back sleeper and my broken rib was a back rib. Every time I turned in my sleep the pain would wake me up; that was an awful few weeks.

But every week, every day, the pain faded. Very gradually, but noticeably. After a month the pain was mostly gone, but if I twisted or stretched, that rib would crack like you'd crack a knuckle. At first this was painful and then just annoying. After about three months the cracking had faded. By six months it was as if it had never happened--I don't feel anything from that rib now.

A broken bone is a long road to full recovery, and the older you are the longer they take to heal. Just be patient and learn to live with it. But the good news is it should get a little bit better every day.
posted by zardoz at 5:34 PM on July 10, 2022 [1 favorite]

Mr Carmicha broke his humerus and five ribs skiing this past winter. Though the only treatment for his broken ribs--which hurt a lot--was time, the xray was important to determine whether any of the broken bits were lodged in or even simply poking his lungs or other internal organs. Had that been the case, he would have been vulnerable should he fall or otherwise take a blow, e.g., from an exploding air bag. Get the xray to confiirm that nothing dire will happen should you take another tumble.
posted by carmicha at 5:51 PM on July 10, 2022 [3 favorites]

Have broken several ribs at different times. Yours sounds normal and I would just go about my business, avoiding things that hurt of course, if I were you.
posted by booooooze at 6:11 PM on July 10, 2022 [1 favorite]

I've broken all my ribs and what you're saying sounds normal to me. I'm in Canada though so did get x-rayed. And yes, there's not really any treatment but pain meds to help sleep.
posted by dobbs at 6:26 PM on July 10, 2022

My mother recently broke her ribs and along with ibuprofen she was given an incentive spirometer to help ensure her breathing wasn't too shallow due to the pain.
posted by wheek wheek wheek at 6:41 PM on July 10, 2022

I broke a rib (turns out you absolutely can break a rib coughing and it sucks), but it took multiple weeks to get it confirmed because of insurance reasons (I was switching jobs), and also because once the insurance stuff was cleared up, they initially didn't think I could be so mobile with a broken rib - I literally moved halfway across the country during the period where something was definitely Not Right but I didn't have a diagnosis. There was a lot of box- and bike-lifting involved, and it probably wasn't good for the rib, but it was definitely physically possible. So no, I don't think you can rule out a broken rib based on it not being disabling enough.

That said, zardoz's experience tracks with mine, in terms of recovery. You probably do want that X-ray if possible, though, in order to make sure it's not broken in a particularly dangerous way.
posted by ASF Tod und Schwerkraft at 7:53 PM on July 10, 2022

I’d like to share a quick experience because getting an X-ray for a broken rib is not a waste of time. I’m an avid mountain biker and I’ve broken a rib on a crash and broke my collar bone and rib on another. When I broke the collar bone and rib I was able to pick myself up, ride off the mountain and drive 2 hours to a hospital. Some upper X-rays were taken and the doctor came in to tell me I was in “good” shape, there’s not much they do for ribs and collar bones these days and she left after telling me she was going to get me checked out. Ten minutes later she came back and said the radiologist noticed I had broken my first rib (the highest up) and that it “wasn’t easy to do” so they wanted a few more chest X-rays before I left. In those X-rays they found a pneumothorax (a punctured lung) and suddenly, after thinking I was about to go home, I was on a bed with a neck brace having a tube put into my chest and spent the next three days in a trauma ward for observation.

All that being said it’s unlikely that’s what happened to you but it’s real risk for folks in car, motorcycle or bike accidents and it’s hard to tell when the lung is punctured. (There’s a famous story of a Doctor doing a chest tube on a plane with a coat hanger and an Evian bottle after the patient took a flight shortly after a car accident). Just wanted to post this in case other people end up on this thread who have broken a rib more violently.

Anyway if it helps, I’m not a big cannabis guy but I did find that 5-20 MG of THC edibles did wonders for my sleep both times I’ve broken my ribs YMMV.
posted by bitdamaged at 9:28 PM on July 10, 2022

It's 20 years since I broke 2 adjacent ribs [bad take-off paragliding]. At the time I was working in a hospital research unit and on the Monday I sidled up to one of the young SHOs and said "Hey Conor would you like to crepitate my ribs?" . . . to see if they were broken. Before Xrays, if a doctor could feel the broken ends grinding against each other when pressed then it wasn't a bruise. Poor Conor wasn't interested in old ways are the best ways but did give me an employee's chit for an Xray. As carmicha and bitdamaged point out above, lung puncture is possible but unlikely.
posted by BobTheScientist at 11:22 PM on July 10, 2022

If you have insurance, it might be worth seeing your doctor to see what they recommend. One benefit of knowing whether it’s broken or not is that it can give you a ballpark idea of how long it will probably take to heal.

I played the Third Witch in Macbeth with a broken rib once. That was a cursed production all around.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:07 AM on July 11, 2022 [1 favorite]

I too have broken a few ribs over the years, all from coughing. The limitations one experiences depends on which rib is broken, and where. Assuming it's a hairline fracture and not likely to puncture a lung or do any other unspeakable internal damage, there's really nothing you can do other than avoid aggravating it more than necessary. Let the pain you feel be your guide. And as everyone says, it gets a bit better every day. For me, after two weeks, I hardly felt effects of the breaks. The caution, though, is to be sure to take a deep breath at least every hour or so even though it hurts, to preclude pneumonia. You really don't want to get pneumonia.
posted by DrGail at 9:14 AM on July 11, 2022

Anti-inflammatories and try not to laugh too much. I am not your doctor but I saw one for a busted rib and that is what 230 dollars paid for.
posted by Chitownfats at 4:59 AM on July 12, 2022