Bruised ribs

[longyfreshy]

Just wondering if anyone knows how long the pain of bruised ribs take to disappear.

About just over 4 weeks ago I was on holidays and my own board came up and hit me in the ribs. The pain was excruciating, to breath, cough or even move properly it hurt like hell. As I was in Sri Lanka I didn't do anything about it and my rib cage felt in tack. I still had some more surfs after taking a lot of pain killers but really could only surf very little as lying on my board was painful.

Anyways after all this time I am still getting pain when sleeping on that side, stretching and after I have had a surf back home and I might add it has been in small surf it hurts after.

I am wondering if maybe I cracked them specially at my age bone density becomes a problem specially through menopause (sorry to all the squeamish ). I am just hoping it doesn't take too much longer to fell like normal.

Thanks for any info.

[alakaboo]

Sounds like you cracked one. Easy to do, especially the lower floating ones.
Treatment would probably be the same anyway, you can't do much for them. Ibuprofen and rest.
X-ray can be an idea if the pain is sharp.
They take 4-8 weeks to heal if you don't reinjure them.

There are inflatable rash shirts which are meant to help.

If you aren't doing weight bearing exercise or light weights for your bone density you should start.

[Yuke Hunt]

More likely to be rip cartilage damage rather than a fractured ... but then again I'm no doctor. Either way its the same prognosis for both scenarios ... 6-8 weeks ... sometimes longer. Paddling is a no no. Enjoy.

[Trev]

I bruised mine in a speedway crash once. Got T-boned on the driver's side and the roll cage came in onto my ribs.
Excruciating as you say and the old, "It only hurts when I breathe" is very true.
Took weeks to improve to a manageable state. But I wasn't surfing at the time.

[Rustt]

I had what I thought was a bruised rib, not painful enough to be busted but stopped me surfing and lifting. Turn out that the spine where it connects with the bottom of the ribcage was out of line, chiro relieved it immediately and it was fixed in a few weeks. Worth a look if it doesn't go away.

[Rustt]

I bruised mine in a speedway crash once. Got T-boned on the driver's side and the roll cage came in onto my ribs.
Excruciating as you say and the old, "It only hurts when I breathe" is very true.
Took weeks to improve to a manageable state. But I wasn't surfing at the time.

I've only had boards hit me and bloody hard a few times, I had an mri done on my upper body a few years ago and they asked if I had been in a car crash as the damage was consistent with that.

[longyfreshy]

Thanks everyone I will just have to be patient. I also hurt my thumb in the surf a few months back and did tendon damage and I still get little twinges with it sometimes.
I was told once because of the little injuries I always get and I don't go into big surf that I am too old and maybe I should give up! Almost nearly did when I was caught out the back on a huge day and thought I was going to die won't make that mistake again.

Thanks again and Merry Christmas