Rib Injury Question

[tone capone]

Still feeling better, up to about 95% normal. Thanks everyone, hopefully this thread helps out if anyone else gets weird nerve symptoms after jacking up ribs.

[old goat]

Sounds like maybe you had an intercostal nerve trapped in the fracture and the chiropracter freed it up. I don't usually think much of chiropractic but can't argue with success (unless we're talking about the election).

[powdrhound]

I can't go along with all the beliefs, but having your bones in the right place is something the 'regular' medical system doesn't fix, unless they can use a knife.

[tone capone]

I totally hear you guys...I just try to keep an open mind about all the different avenues to healing without being too absolutist about any of it. No doubt I am greatly indebted to modern medicine, surgical intervention and physical therapy, as well as some alternative medicine and supplements, and now for the first time ever, chiropractic.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

I'm glad you found relief but your ribs will heal if the broken ends are remotely close. I have five ribs that look like they have a 'z' in the middle now. I will say that stretching you trunk will keep your rib cage more flexible after rib fractures.

[klar]

I'm hijacking this because I have three broken ribs and can't move/am bored and want to talk about it. Tone, I hope you are all healed and good as new?

How long do people generally sit around really doing nothing? I understand 4-6 weeks till it's not noticeable anymore, but folks seem to do quite a lot of stuff much sooner. Right now walking for 5 minutes is about as far as I get and that's pretty painful. It seems like there's a kind of stabby pain that radiates all over and the place where it's actually broken is more like a dull ache. I am guessing the getting stabbed sensation eases off more and more and the dull ache stays longer?

[Dantheman]

If it hurts, don't do it. Do as much activity as pain, or lack thereof, allows since movement promotes healing. Try to breathe as fully/normally as possible to reduce the risk of developing pneumonia. No NSAIDs, they inhibit bone growth.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

If it hurts, don't do it. Do as much activity as pain, or lack thereof, allows since movement promotes healing. Try to breathe as fully/normally as possible to reduce the risk of developing pneumonia. No NSAIDs, they inhibit bone growth.

Do as much as you can tolerate. Unless you really over do it with NSAIDS(Ibuprofen, Naproxen) there's no reason no to take it. I've never had my docs say no NSAIDs after broken bones. Another thing that's really helpful is Robaxin, it really helps with the muscle cramps due to splinting. It can make you way more comfortable. Did you get an x-ray Klar? If the ribs are just cracked I wouldn't worry about the stabbing pain but if they're displaced take it easy. The broken ends can tear your lung. I think 4-6 week is a little optimistic for it to stop being uncomfortable, more like 4-6 months before you won't notice anything.

[powdrhound]

Three times with broken ribs.
Big rock in Grizzly Bowl at Bear Valley, a tree in Mammoth Glades and landing on my ladder as it fell over.
The last time I hardly ever left my recliner. Let them heal without stress. I think it worked better.
The punctured lung the first time didn't help at all...

You will heal. Better with straight ribs.

[Dantheman]

I've never had my docs say no NSAIDs after broken bones.

That was the directive from my surgeon after my clavicle ORIF last year.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

The evidence is inconclusive.

[klar]

Thanks guys, I'm mostly just feeling sorry for myself and want to whine a bit.

I was prescribed Naxopren and told to take one in the morning and one at night if I feel like I need it, have been taking one before bed the last couple of days. The dull pain is a fairly tolerable background presence as long as I don't move too much. The stabby pain appears randomly and is really bad but lets off as quickly as it comes.

I read through this thread and another one the search function gave me and I'm finding it kind of amusing how you guys talk about going or not going to the doctor and getting x-rays. I am taking full advantage of my socialist big government healthcare.

It happened on a skitour and I skied out but was feeling pretty shitty so went to the ER once we got to town. Mostly I wanted to get them to check out my ankle, which also took a hit. By the time I actually got there I was somewhat woozy and they didn't like the really low blood pressure. With that and the ribs they did not want to let me go home and I didn't insist.

Apparently if you have more than one broken rib they keep you overnight in the hospital as a standard procedure to manage pain and monitor for developing lung problems. Turned into two nights for me because it was sunday and the hospitals also take advantage of the socialist big government healthcare system when they can. I had 2 x-rays in three days. I was handed a bill for 2.19€ for the package deal. I was also presented with a weird breathing therapy thing that looks like a strange kids toy, plastic casing with little plastic balls and a tube. When you suck air through the tube the balls float up.

Ribs are fully broken but seem to be more or less (?) in the correct place. Lung is fine. They mentioned that the break was closer to the spleen (lower ribs left side) and checked for internal bleeding but that is fine too.

I am attaching a picture of my feet for everyone's enjoyment. (The right one is my usual level of messed up)

[BCMtnHound]

I think 4-6 week is a little optimistic for it to stop being uncomfortable, more like 4-6 months before you won't notice anything.

One thing I remember after busting a couple ribs falling off my bike several moons ago, was healing well and feeling normal after a month or so, able to work and play normally, and then some motion, sometimes as slight as a deep breath while twisting or stretching the wrong way, would trigger a spasm of pain that would take a day or two to subside. Totally unpredictable regardless of exercise or other exertion. I think it took close to 4 months to fully heal.

[schindlerpiste]

My rib story: For our honeymoon, we traveled to the Sinai (Sharm el Sheikh) for a week of exploring the undersea world of Ras Mohammad. After 10 days of spectacular diving, we decided to take a tour of St. Catherine's closer (think the burning bush and Moses and the 10 Commandments). The bus was involved in a very bad one veh. accident in which I broke every rib on the left side of my body. I was living in Germany, and that is where I sough medical attention. On the day after the accident, I want for x-rays, which revealed 3 broken ribs. Three days later, it was discovered that 6 ribs were broken. I had to sleep at a 90 degree angle for about one month. There was no medication, or no prophylaxis prescribed. However, my German orthopedic told me to try to swim. He told me this in German. I went to the local pool, and immediately sunk in 8 feet of water. I returned to the doctor and chuckled and he said. "Tut mir leid. Ich hat nür spaß gemacht!" .....arsch loch!

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Thanks guys, I'm mostly just feeling sorry for myself and want to whine a bit.

I was prescribed Naxopren and told to take one in the morning and one at night if I feel like I need it, have been taking one before bed the last couple of days. The dull pain is a fairly tolerable background presence as long as I don't move too much. The stabby pain appears randomly and is really bad but lets off as quickly as it comes.

I read through this thread and another one the search function gave me and I'm finding it kind of amusing how you guys talk about going or not going to the doctor and getting x-rays. I am taking full advantage of my socialist big government healthcare.

It happened on a skitour and I skied out but was feeling pretty shitty so went to the ER once we got to town. Mostly I wanted to get them to check out my ankle, which also took a hit. By the time I actually got there I was somewhat woozy and they didn't like the really low blood pressure. With that and the ribs they did not want to let me go home and I didn't insist.

Apparently if you have more than one broken rib they keep you overnight in the hospital as a standard procedure to manage pain and monitor for developing lung problems. Turned into two nights for me because it was sunday and the hospitals also take advantage of the socialist big government healthcare system when they can. I had 2 x-rays in three days. I was handed a bill for 2.19€ for the package deal. I was also presented with a weird breathing therapy thing that looks like a strange kids toy, plastic casing with little plastic balls and a tube. When you suck air through the tube the balls float up.

Ribs are fully broken but seem to be more or less (?) in the correct place. Lung is fine. They mentioned that the break was closer to the spleen (lower ribs left side) and checked for internal bleeding but that is fine too.

I am attaching a picture of my feet for everyone's enjoyment. (The right one is my usual level of messed up)

Use the breathing thing, incentive spirometer. I envy your healthcare system, my bill when I fell and broke my ribs(5), scapula and punctured my lung with 4 night in the hospital was nearly $30k USD of which I paid $4k after insurance. I don't envy your feet, you have bunions.

[klar]

However, my German orthopedic told me to try to swim. He told me this in German. I went to the local pool, and immediately sunk in 8 feet of water. I returned to the doctor and chuckled and he said. "Tut mir leid. Ich hat nür spaß gemacht!" .....arsch loch!

I almost laughed but it would have hurt. I mean that sucks obviously and it was Arschloch behaviour on his part but I'm imagining it in a slapstick movie kind of way.

Use the breathing thing, incentive spirometer. I envy your healthcare system, my bill when I fell and broke my ribs(5), scapula and punctured my lung with 4 night in the hospital was nearly $30k USD of which I paid $4k after insurance. I don't envy your feet, you have bunions.

wow. our health care system isn't perfect but it is nice not having to worry at all about getting the necessary (and often also the not essential but really nice to have) stuff taken care of, or going to a doctor when you're not sure you need to just to stop worrying. and yes, i have bunions and a few other things that make my feet special

[Dantheman]

I am attaching a picture of my feet for everyone's enjoyment. (The right one is my usual level of messed up)

Oh, wow, double vibes. So, what happened?

[tone capone]

Yeah thank you Klar, I am 100% better now. Took a fall onto my side skiing hard pack when I clipped a hidden rock at about 6 or 7 weeks and they hurt again for a couple weeks after that but I think I am totally out of the woods now. I guess my own reason for not wanting to go see a doctor right away is a form of being in denial about being hurt that bad, especially 2 weeks before ski season. The chiropractic visit really did fix the arm pain and hand numbness thank god, that was really bugging me out. If anything I still have some slight residual pain in my shoulder area during certain motions but I think it's almost fully worked itself out.

Thinking back on it, I was out ski touring in quite a bit of pain a couple weeks after the accident because I wanted to keep moving and breathing deeply, and I wonder if that / and or not stretching my trunk enough led to what happened with my subsequent nerve issues. I hope nothing like that is in store for you Klar but it seems to have been a freakishly rare occurrence. Who knows what the hell all happened in my chest cavity but it was most certainly an experience I do not wish to repeat.

Vibes on the ankle as well, that looks pretty swollen I hope it's not too bad a sprain.

[old goat]

Klar--I wouldn't worry about injuring your lung, unless you were to fall hard enough to break ribs if they weren't already broken. I've never seen a delayed punctured lung from broken ribs (sometimes the puncture isn't apparent for a day or two but it was there from the start). Recovery varies a lot. With broken ribs opiates are appropriate if NSAIDS aren't strong enough. (Note that Tylenol with codeine is Schedule 3 last I looked so less restrictions than Vicodin. Percocet probably not necessary). You can take acetominophen in addition to the naprosyn, unless you were to start taking Tylenol + opiate in which case don't take acetominophen on its own as well.

I fell two summers ago, had chest pain, didn't do anything about it except continue the Tylenol and Naprosyn I was already taking for my back. Reinjured the area skiing--no fall just a hard maneuver--(uphill knee came up on a steep slope and hit my beacon which was right over the place where I had hurt the ribs the first time), kept taking the meds and kept skiing, carefully. After a week or two I had an xray. I only saw 1 broken rib, the radiologist said 3 and I haven't had a chance to look at it more carefully. Kept taking the meds and skiing. Healed up after a few more weeks. One of the few advantages of being over 60 is that stuff hurts less--probably because muscles are weaker and don't spasm. But my wife also broke 3 ribs and was in a lot more pain and couldn't do much for weeks. So it varies.
Like everyone else says--take the meds, do what you can, don't do what hurts too much, keep using the inspirometer, also try to have a few good coughs every few hours to keep the lungs clear, try to be upright as much as you can--good for the lungs, hold a pillow firmly over the area when you cough so it doesn't hurt so much, learn how to roll over in bed and roll out of bed using your arms to push yourself rather than stressing the chest muscles (if you have a wife who's had a kid or two she'll know how to do this).

[LightRanger]

No bueno klar. Your trip to our fair state still on, or you have to cancel?

[klar]

Sincere thank you to everyone for all the sympathy, letting me vent and sharing your stories. The recovery stories are good to hear.

Yeah thank you Klar, I am 100% better now.

Thinking back on it, I was out ski touring in quite a bit of pain a couple weeks after the accident because I wanted to keep moving and breathing deeply, and I wonder if that / and or not stretching my trunk enough led to what happened with my subsequent nerve issues. I hope nothing like that is in store for you Klar but it seems to have been a freakishly rare occurrence. Who knows what the hell all happened in my chest cavity but it was most certainly an experience I do not wish to repeat.

Vibes on the ankle as well, that looks pretty swollen I hope it's not too bad a sprain.

That's great to hear and pretty encouraging (the bit about skiing a few weeks later and your issue being rare..)! The ankle will supposedly fix itself much like the ribs, thankfully. It definitely does not want to be in a ski boot right now but I'll try some gentle cruising once the swelling goes away for breathing and sanity therapy

Like everyone else says--take the meds, do what you can, don't do what hurts too much, keep using the inspirometer, also try to have a few good coughs every few hours to keep the lungs clear, try to be upright as much as you can--good for the lungs, hold a pillow firmly over the area when you cough so it doesn't hurt so much, learn how to roll over in bed and roll out of bed using your arms to push yourself rather than stressing the chest muscles (if you have a wife who's had a kid or two she'll know how to do this).

I don't have a wife and I haven't had any kids myself either but I think I get what you are saying Getting in and out of bed is quite the adventure at the moment. Thanks for the advice on the meds. It's pretty clear what I can and can't do painwise right now, especially in combination with the ankle problem. I do catch myself being all crooked and super tense every couple of hours and try to force myself to sit/stand/walk straight...

No bueno klar. Your trip to our fair state still on, or you have to cancel?

Still on. It's still 5 weeks or so from now, from what everyone says I should be mobile enough by then to ski alright and even if not I'll just hang out in your fair state!

Oh, wow, double vibes. So, what happened?

well, shit happened. we were skitouring in this area where we go quite a lot, you can take a lift up and then continue and skin up into a number bowls that have short but fun little lines where you can do some kind of loop or a few laps and then ski back to the resort. bunch of other people around that day, some fairly ambitious and high consequence lines got skied.

we were lapping a small zone that has a few little chutes which all open up into the same slope, all are a similar angle and aspect. 4 of those skied fine. I kicked off a small-ish slab on the 5th one. there was about 10cm of new snow from the day before, a little more in more windloaded pockets, which this was. the new snow slid on a thin layer of facets above a crust that had formed before the snowfall. Not enough moving snow to do real damage on its own (very good run out) but definitely enough to knock me off my feet and drag me over some rocks.

We have been having a very dry winter and the snowpack is way, way below normal. That didn't help. I tried to ski out of the chute type feature onto the rib that separates it from the neighbouring one and I think that might have worked with normal snow levels but with things as they are I just skied onto a bunch of rocks and got pushed over.

We obviously did fuck up here and got overconfident but it wasn't the kind of incident that makes you question your entire decision making process. Had an interesting and highly theoretical conversation with our avalanche forecast people about why that one might have slid when the others didn't.

The main lesson that was reinforced for me by this was how quickly things can go south and how problematic even small injuries can be. I know the area very well, had two friends helping, weather was good, enough daylight left and it still took something like 1.5 hours to ski out what would normally take 10 minutes at most. We could have called a helicopter at any time without any financial or otherwise unpleasant consequences. I've spent quite some time skiing in some pretty remote corners of south america and a few other "adventurous" places over the years and holy shit I'm glad I've only ever managed to hurt myself at home. knocking on wood right now and promising myself I will curb my enthusiasm even more when far away from help...

[tone capone]

[QUOTE holy shit I'm glad I've only ever managed to hurt myself at home. knocking on wood right now and promising myself I will curb my enthusiasm even more when far away from help...][/QUOTE]

I hear that!

Thanks for sharing the story Klar. Great report with many valuable insights there. This could have easily happened to any of us if we were there that day, looks like beautiful skiing. None of us can beat the odds of "shit happening" all the time, we're thankful so many factors were still in your favor when your number was up.

[klar]

Gaah. Went for a checkup and doctor did another xray. Refused to let me go home, had to get an ambulance ride to the hospital. Apparently I have a beginning pneumothorax (?). Not bad enough to stick a tube in my lung but I have to stay in here until it either goes away on its own or they change their mind. I can breath fine, I can work the spirometer fine, I really don't like being in the hospital.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

That sucks but take it easy. I felt horrible with my pnuemothorax, much relief after the chest tube.

[LightRanger]

Man, that sucks. Thanks for the story.