Injured a rib...

[SpikyHedgehog]

Ah the joys of practicing karate. I bruised one of my ribs. Well actually it's more the little muscles between the ribs that got damaged.
Needless to say, most movements hurt. Sneezing and coughing, you don't even wanna know.
The annoying thing is I had just recovered from a pretty nasty gastrointestinal bacterial infection that put me out for over a month and now that I finally could do sports again, I get this.

Because of that infection, I lost some weight. Probably mostly fat but ok... I could live with that. I was so pumped to start working out again and now with this rib business I can't. I have to let it rest for a while and it's probably gonna take a few weeks.

Will I lose muscle mass? I worked so hard to gain these 10 kilo's... the idea of losing them depresses me.
Is there anything I can do to minimize this? Or will I just turn puny again and have to start all over?
The only excercice that I can actually do without putting myself through a lot of pain, are farmer's walks and squats (putting the dumbell into position hurts, but once I have it, it's good) but for other excercices, it hurts. Even jogging hurts.

Any advice?

 

[SFW]

Any advice?

Rest until you're fully recovered. Then use steroids to recover your physique/strength. Now, you may have to check legality for your country first, etc.

 

[davidjohnston]

I'm familar with that injury, got it often, when I used to do Muay Thai. There is only one other injury like that, that is more painful - being punched or kicked in the solar plexus - similar soft of feeling, but pain lasts longer.

I'd expect after a week or so, you might be able to do some bodyweight work, to keep your muscles working, and ease back into it without too much pain?

 

[Powermaster]

I some experience with this too. Rest and recover should be primary. Slowly introduce some low impact cardio to speed recovery. Expect 6 to 8 weeks down time.