I Are Baboon

I had a really nasty wreck while mountain bike riding last weekend. Suffered a bruised back, shoulder, knee, hip, and ribs. Everything but my ribs are healing nicely. I was most concerned about my back, but it's close to 100% now. But my damn ribs are still sore as hell. I went riding last night. As long as I just pedaled the bike I felt fine. Soon as I had to start working the bike with my upper body, my ribs would ache. It feels like a really painful cramp that won't go away. The pain is under my rib cage. The bones on the outside feel just fine when I touch them. When I am sleeping at night and roll over, the pain wakes me right up.

I also tried to workout yesterday morning and that was just a disaster.

When I crashed, my back was absolutely killing me and I was limping for two days because of it. The rib injury felt minor in comparison. Now my back feels great but the ribs do not.

So I guess my question is, when will I feel better? I have a ride planned Sunday that involves lots of dangerous stuff and I don't want to miss it.

Before you ask, NO I have not been to my doctor. If anything was seriously wrong, I'd be in a lot more pain.

dg806

Does it hurt to take a deep breath? Sounds like you may have broken a rib?

www.sbmuscle.com

I Are Baboon

There is only slight discomfort when I take a VERY deep breath (as deep as I can go). I think it would hurt a lot more if it was broken. Then again, I have never broken a rib so I would not know what it feels like.

Larva

well i bruise my rips before and it hurt for like a month it seemed, atleast it took more then 2 weeks for me to heal, you can go get it check out if you think its broken,

bandaidwoman

This could be due to stretched or actually torn intercostal ligaments, which are between the ribs. I've done this before, but I've also broken ribs without realizing it and kept racing or riding, so I'm not the best person to ask about doing that ride or not. But to be honest, if you don't have alot of pain taking a deep breath but only when working your bike with your torso, then its probably torn or sprained intercostal ligaments.. In which case, if you can tolerate the pain, go for it. I dislocated my patella during a race this last week and luckily snapped it back into place on the field so I am just road riding alot for the next two weeks. Ahh...the joys of mountain biking.

Official Race Member of the Crank Crushing Rednecks

Eat more mud, mountain bike until you die!

XX Feminine power

I Are Baboon

Thank you bandaidwoman.

Dislocated patella?

A friend of mine asked my wife if this would slow me down as far as freeriding goes. Not a chance. When you ride your bike off small cliffs and boulders, you'll get hurt eventually. You just to accept that it's going to happen.

I think I will go a little easier until the Adrenaline race is behind me. I don't want to miss that.

I Are Baboon

For those who don't read my journal, here is where I hurt myself. This picture is of someone who actually knows what the hell they're doing.

Rich46yo

Two years ago I fell off my bike on a bike trail. I was pumping and jamming to music and took a turn to fast. I couldnt hold the bike on the trail, wasnt wearing a helmut, and was about 1 second from going headfirst into a tree. Well Im a motorcycle rider so I did the only thing I could do to survive,more or less intact. I rode the bike into the ground and took my beating. And boy did I get beat. I heard my ribs break as I hit the pavement, ended up with a dislocated shoulder "that stayed dislocated" and four breaks in my ribs.

And to make it worse I was 3/4 mile from the nearest rode, nobody was around, and I didnt have a cell phone. I had to walk out of that bike trail hardly able to breathe and was then able to flag down a motorist. It was miserable, let me tell you. Took about 6 shots of morphine to get me thru the X-rays.

It wasnt the first time I broke a rib and it is generaly a miserable injury. If you had broke it I'd bet you'd know. Like dg says difficulty breathing is generally the biggest symptom. If it was me I'd get an X-ray. Ive busted about every bone in my body in my lifetime, been thru 15 operations, rehabbed forever its seems.

That bike ride was the last straw. I havnt been on my bike since then.............take care..............Rich

"Death to Tyrants"!

Stickboy

If it was broke, you would know it for sure.

When I was a teenager, I had a dirtbike that I used to ride trails with. There was a trail near my house, and after the snow and whatnot melted I took my motorcycle out. My dad always told me to take the trail slow to see what it was like before hauling ass through it. I didn't heed his advice. I went tear assing thru the trail and caught a limb of a tree that had fallen across the trail. Bruised both arms and broke a few ribs. You could actually SEE where I caught the limb.

Anyway, if it only hurts when you breathe, it's probably bruised. For me, my friggin chest hurt when I took a breath or if I moved.

JerseyDevil

I cracked a rib several years ago, and man that hurt like hell. I have dislocated a shoulder, broke a collar bone, and fractured a finger. I'd say the rib was the worst. Mainly because it hurt to breathe, sit up, and to cough was shear agony. Plus it took several weeks to heal. Sounds like you just strained the ligaments like BAW said, or bruised the ribs.

nikegurl

how ya healing/feeling iab? hopefully much better.

If you want to achieve things that others can't...

You have to do things that others won't.

I Are Baboon

It's been five weeks since the injury and I am just now feeling close to 100%. I did flat benches for the first time since the injury this morning and I felt good. (I tried to do them last week and could not). All of my riding since then has been "wheels on the ground" riding. No jumping or riding off boulders. No more of that stuff until after the race I have scheduled in June or my teammates will kill me. Thanks for asking.

Thanks for the input guys. Yeah, I figured I'd know if it was broken. Funny, when I got hurt it was my BACK that was killing me. I didn't really feel the rib pain until my back healed up.

nikegurl

5 weeks is a long time....Glad you're finally feeling better though!

If you want to achieve things that others can't...

You have to do things that others won't.