Cracked ribs - How long?

[Guffy]

A kind lady exiting her parked car took me clean out with her door while i was cycling to work last week. As a result i have a couple of cracked ribs (not displaced) and a chipped bone on my elbow (Amongst other injuries!)

Anyway, i was hoping to get an idea from the experience of others when i might be able to cycle again? I also miss my long dog walks too

[Benzman]

Six weeks, and don't try laughing it's absolute agony.

[Big_Dog]

Mine took 4 weeks, hit the kerb with them at about 20mph. Dont believe a word of the assisted cough bit not hurting.

[BoRED S2upid]

What they said. I damaged mine a couple of weeks back and was concernd they might be cracked, it hurt to breathe for 2 days but after 2 weeks I was back at the gym so it was obviously just bruised. If you start to cough up blood your in trouble apparently

[AlRaven]

Had a few times from karate, I'd say 5-6 weeks. Do not cough, do not laugh and if you sneeze your ribcage and internal organs will explode.

[gonzales]

My cracked ribs took about 7 weeks to fully heal.

Try to avoid sneezing, coughing, breathing, changes in posture and you should be fine.

[ettore]

gonzales said:

My cracked ribs took about 7 weeks to fully heal.

Try to avoid sneezing, coughing, breathing, changes in posture and you should be fine.

...and it's a killer getting in and out of bed!

[jas xjr]

cracked my ribs twice. mine took about two months to heal. not helped by having to work.
be careful they can crack again whilst healing if you are too active. mine went again whilst having a shower.

[buccal]

Same here, a good couple of months.

If god forbid you do start to cough etc roll up a bath towel and wrap it round your ribs and pull it really tight to try and give them support.

I sprung two ribs coughing before a physio recommended this.

[Elroy Blue]

I cracked my ribs and one of the results was shallow breathing to avoid the pain. This led to a chest infection, which led to a bad cough! Which meant my ribs never healed.....most miserable time of my life!

[Roger645]

Cracked a couple in a water-ski accident, took about 3 weeks before I could cough without having a tourettes session!

[Marcellus]

For gods sake don't sneeze either..

I crack some ribs and was doing ok until I did.. ended up in A&E.

Doctor came round to see me and gave me this advice; Every two hours take some drugs alternativng between Ibuprofen and Paracetamol even if you feel no pain....before you go do bed take codeine to help you sleep.

2 weeks later I was skiing, so guess it worked!

[FamilyGuy]

About 6 weeks for mine too. I mistook myself for Dean of Torville and Dean and attempted an impressive ice-skating jump which err, wasn't all that impressive when I landed sideways with my elbow underneath.

This is kind of a timely thread as I was messing around with the children last week and whilst I was lying on the floor on my side my 7 year old jumped knees first onto my lowest rib. She's fine but for me things are tolerable, I suspect bruised rather than cracked this time, but a little sore at the moment...

[boobles]

2 Months for mine to heal & 2 years on, i still get pain from them as i found out Monday at footie training. Took a slight knock & as a result i have now displaced the closest rib to my heart & by feck does it hurt! Nothing seems to work as i have tried diclofenic (think thats how you spell it) i also bought a "rib belt" & have just tried some Ibuleve. I have never suffered from anything like it when it comes to rib injuries.

[dnomyar]

DO NOT SNEEZE

DO NOT COUGH

DO NOT LAUGH

everyone else will, 4 weeks, kart racing, my own fault...............

[boobles]

or hiccup. I just had a dose & by feck does it hurt!

[Stu R]

2 weeks-3 weeks for the uncomfortable movement and pain when you laugh to start subsiding, 4-6 weeks to heal.

Try not to break them again, it gets far worse.

[Pupp]

If you think cracking them hurts, try separating the buggers

[Captain Cadillac]

I had an argument with an Acura MDX towards the end of November while on my Motorcycle (THe Acura won) and managed to crack 3 ribs.

They hurt like hell for a week, were very sore for another 2 weeks and by Christmastime I was back to my usual obnoxious self.

Drunken prick ruined an MV Agusta F4 though... a55hole...

[Rabbitinthenight]

Too lengthy too explain how I broke 3 ribs together and sheared of interior lining of ribcage which filled with blood. This led to infection and pluerisy. Took about 3 months for ribs to fuse and another month to clear infection. As the aforementioned don't: cough, laugh, sneeze, or worst of all get hiccups.
If you get a couple of these together you will wish that you could do a backflip and disappear up your own a-hole...but you can't!