Broken ribs. Heal quickly, yes?

So went to wales to ride dirt bikes again. Got a bit bored in the slide
the wheel round under control exercise since I've done it a few times
and can do this now so decided to use the time pratting around, riding
up steep banks etc. etc.

There was one table-top type thing that I took at 90degrees to the
normal approach and I jumped it quite satisfyingly. So I looked at a
(small) berm and thought it might be fun to jump that. Steep approach
and a climb of about 3 to 4 feet. However I got to the top and saw a
pallet right in front of me. I tried to move the bike to the left which
I managed to do...

Unfortunately I didn't land perpendicular to the ground and went down
hard. The bike bruised my left calf and my body slammed into the
(hardcore) earth on my left hand side. I winded myself and didn't feel
'right'. As the day progressed it became harder to ride at any pace and
breathing deeply became painful.

Think I've broken a rib. Ouch. Just hoping it's good in three weeks
time because I've got a weekend-long enduro school booked.

Aren't dirt bikes great? I've bashed myself up more this year than I
have in the ten previous ones.

 

On Sat, 30 Oct 2010 10:43:54 +0100, wrote:


No, they don't. The bone healing may take a week or two, the resulting
bruising and inflammation may be around for quite a while longer.

You'll be struggling. If you're lucky and it's just bruised you may be
OK. Might be worth getting it checked out, as you really don't want to
be throwing yourself around in the meantime if it's properly borked.

Hah. Thankfully, I got the dirt bike bug, and all the man resulting
crashes, out of my system in my early biking years. Starting it at
your age is gonna hurt a lot more.

 

If you've broken it, expect several months of nagging pain whenever
you twist your body, even once it's fixed.

After a few weeks ignoring the pain probably won't make things any
worse, mind.

 

It can depend on what you've done.

L broke a rib when I dumped the GS in Romania at the beginning of
September. It was OK for the first couple of days then got very
painful and she had to fly home. 10 days after that we were riding in
a bike rally; I was expecting to ride solo and we were both surprised
she was able to join me. She got the odd twinge for a few weeks but, 2
months later, she's having no problems at all.

OTOH I damaged my ribs dumping the GTR last year. I was in a lot of
pain for months and it still hurts occasionally - I can't bear to have
anything in the pocket of my bike jacket on the left side as it's too
uncomfortable and the rib still protrudes. I'd dislocated them rather
than breaking them and the latter apparently heals much more quickly.

Kevin

 

They dont heal well at all & are fucking painful, especially if you do three
at once

 

'Tis best done at the height of hayfever season.

--
Ivan Reid, School of Engineering & Design, _____________ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO#003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

6 to 8 weeks generally. It'll go on hurting for weeks and then the pain
will disappear fairly rapidly over the last week or two.

Based on my own and others experiences.

Tim

 

Best of luck wi' that if you've really broken a rib.

 

V broke a rib earlier this year and cracked one a couple of months ago.
The first time she was somewhat incapacitated for three weeks, the
second time it was only a couple but she was on her old stock of
codeine.

You might want to postpone the enduro school.

 

I suspect that if he only "thinks" he's broken a rib, he hasn't.

Don't misunderstand - I've not broken one myself, but I've seen the
results when other people have, and as per V's experience, it seems to
leave the injured party flat on their back for weeks at a time; if
Stephen's still walking around, as I just mentioned, I think he's
probably not actually broken a rib.

Unless he's a much tougher **** than I thought he was.

 

When I did it I thought I'd winded myself. I got up pretty quickly
because I didn't want to be seen lying on the ground under a bike. I
rode it, slowly, expecting the pain to subside. It didn't, it got worse
as the day progressed.

I have broken/cracked/damaged one when I was 17 but can't remember how
long it took to heal, or much about it at all really.

There's no visible bruise and no lump yet. Can't even localise the
discomfort/pain to a specific rib. I think it's *got* to be a minor
crack or bruise.

I think I've got a fairly high pain threshold; it's genetic. Not as
much tough as stubborn.

Still I prefer your suggestion that I only think I've done it because
that means in a week it'll be well on the way to healing and in three it
will be a distant memory. Can ride a bike on the road but don't fancy
going off road and risking falling again.

 

Trouble is, a break woth no displacement, which Ogden calls a 'crack',
is practically indistinguisable from a bad bruise. Unless you fall on
it again, when it will offer no resistance to movement. Beware
punctured lungs if that happens.

Well there's always that possibility.

 

yes, I'm aware of that, though I hadn't earlier noticed/made the
distinction between broken and cracked. For "Broken Rib" I was
thinking of the couple of people that I've seen injured[1] in such a
manner that their lungs were already punctured, and they were already
coughing up blood and had to be hospitalised.

well, he grew up on a farm, didn't he - he might look like a
pansy-foo-foo, but there's always the possibility that he's actually a
hard little bastard.

[1] both in farming accidents, as it happens. One in particular stands
out in my memory, when the poor sod was run over by the back wheel of
a Ford tractor. Though it was his own fault for larking around and
standing on the wheel guard and then falling off.

 

As per my post up there somewhere, that's not always the case.

L's recovery and lack of initial bad pain were such we were convinced
she must just have had a bad bruise when we went to the Romanian
hospital to have it checked out. They still X-Ray ribs in Romania and
both the Romanian doctor, and the physio when we were back in the UK,
were able to show us the break on the X-Ray.

Kevin

 

well, I hope it's the case that you've not broken a rib. I've driven a
car with a broken collar bone and that was "fairly" painful; I've
ridden a bike with a rather severely bruised scrotum (having ripped
off the mirror of my bandit 1200 with my nuts, basically, having been
t-boned by a car), but I'd imagine trying to ride properly with actual
broken ribs would be excruciating.

 

A week ago last Friday, a lady friend was breaking in a new horse. The
horse had never worn a bit and was a bit nervous. The lady got bucked
off and the horse stepped on her. She eventually got back on the horse
and rode it 3 times before she went to the doctor on Monday. Xrays
showed 3 broken ribs and liquid in the lungs. She's now wearing a
padded girdle-like brace. She's sore, but managing. Tough lady. Being
over 50, it'll prolly take some time to heal.

 

I've had that happen, albeit when I was only about 12 years old. It
fucking hurt, though forgunately no broken anything, just a lot of
bruising.

Fucking nasty old stallion called Mayo - I never got back on that
particular horse.

 

@4ax.com:

a bit county, was he?

 

Mr P better hope it's just an imaginary break then....

 

Cheek. I'm a long way from 50. Well, some years anyway.