Broken/Bruised Ribs???

[QueBota]

Took a pretty bad slip and fall on muddy bank six weeks ago yesterday. Was heading to my deer stand. Hit a slick spot under the leaves, slid about four feet or so downhill hill, my feet flew out from under me, I was parallel to the ground and landed on my left side hard, primarily the lower ribs below the arm pit that would not be protected by shoulder pads. Was like a slip and fall you would see in a cartoon. Was carrying my 12 gauge pump with scope, was interested in protecting that. No time to just "sit down" during the slide, it happened so fast. I guess at 53 I'm not as nimble as I used to be. Shotgun came out fine, I didn't do so well. Knocked the wind out of me but good. Haven't been hit that hard since college ball. I layed there on my back for a good minute of so, trying to take it all in, trying to catch my breath, disoriented and a little frightened, the back of my head was the second contact point with the ground. I was able to roll over and get on my hands and knees and roll my back (like a cat stretching) and get my breath back. Interesting experience. Knelt there for a few minutes to get myself together. Slowly got back on my feet and made my way back to the house with my tail between my legs.

Talked to my Ortho doc on the phone and explained the situation. He told me not to come in, they can't do much for me due the location of the injury, too low on the rib cage to wrap. I had two rotator cuff repairs in the past year or so. This is much worse than that. Healing very, very slowly, easy to tweak the injury and cause a setback. Doc told me to take it easy, can't do that. I don't get paid to take it easy, to much to do at work and around the place. He told me it could take months for the pain to subside. Very depressing, I feel like half a man, have to sleep in a recliner, hard to get in and out of a car, hurts to do just about anything, forget about sneezing or coughing.

Anyone with a similar experience? Would love to commiserate, I just want to be pain free. Funny how you never appreciate feeling well until you don't. My dad always used to tell me "Don't get old son", makes more sense everyday.

Thanks,
Q

 

[BigBoyToys]

I had a rib injury a number of years ago. Broke 2, cracked and bruised three others. They found traces of blood in my urine...ended up being a silver dollar size blood blister on my kidney from the fall. Your doctor is right about not doing much for this injury. The "wrapping" of ribs in the old days is no longer done. The taping restricts breathing which leads to pneumonia. Make sure you try to take deep breaths to keep the lungs clear. It just takes time!!! Good luck!

 

[George2615]

Your Dad was right, the older you get the less pain free you are going to be.

 

[JimRB]

I cracked a collar bone and on the other side I did a partial tear of a knee ligament. I could lay flat on my back to sleep, or sleep on one side if I put a pillow between my knees. Other side was useless because of the collar bone. Getting in and out of bed was a challenge and painful. When I got around to going to the doctor he took an xray of the knee. Nothing broken and he said there was no point to taking a MRI if things seemed to be healing and hurting less.

I have cracked a few ribs at different times. Some of those hanging ribs down low and a few higher up. They heal in 2 months but certainly are annoying for at least a month. Heck, that ligament took a half a year or more to stop hurting.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

Yes, deep breaths are very important. Think about how terrible pneumonia with a cough will be.
There are nerve blocks that can be done (paravertebral or intercostal) and a tiny catheter threaded to give local anesthetic pain relief. No one will want to leave thoes in for much more than a week though.

 

[Dftodd]

Tried snow boarding about 15 years ago in my mid 20's. Caught the front edge and face planted onto a moggle. Shoved my elbow into my ribs. Cracked one and bruised four ribs. After about 5 weeks I was feeling a lot better, till my girl friend at the time thought she would be cute and jump into my arms Caught her, felt a pop in my chest, and proceeded to drop her on her butt. The cracked rib cracked again.

 

[GPintheMitten]

Did something similar sliding home head first in a snowball league. Of course that was 30 years or more ago. As I recall, it was not as bad as your injury.

Just need to take it easy as the doc says. It will take time but you'll recover. In 20-30 years, you can post something like this for someone else. Good luck. Get well.

 

[BigBoyToys]

Think about how terrible pneumonia with a cough will be.

Well let me expand on my rib episode I mentioned earlier...I was sent home with percocet and told to take two initially and then 1 every 8 hours. Well I never made it past the first 2. If you think it hurts to cough when you have broken ribs...try puking!!!!

 

[oldpilgrim]

I broke 2. Weird feeling to feel the ends moving around. Dr said they would reconnect on their own in 4-6 weeks. One day they fused by themselves. Still hurt occasionally for over 5 years..

 

[PhysAssist]

I had a rib injury a number of years ago. Broke 2, cracked and bruised three others. They found traces of blood in my urine...ended up being a silver dollar size blood blister on my kidney from the fall. Your doctor is right about not doing much for this injury. The "wrapping" of ribs in the old days is no longer done. The taping restricts breathing which leads to pneumonia. Make sure you try to take deep breaths to keep the lungs clear. It just takes time!!! Good luck!

Too right there, we tell patients to take 10 deep breaths per hour while they are awake to keep their lungs aerated and prevent getting pneumonia or a collapsed lung just from not taking deep breaths.

Talk to your MD and see if they will rx you some lidocaine ointment, it can help by numbing the pain nerves in the area.

Be really careful with any narcotic pain medicine (besides the obvious risks of addiction) because they ALL depress respirations, making you less likely to take deep breaths spontaneously.

Finally, stick with ice rather than heat, because heat can make the (not quite inevitable) muscle spasms set in and be worse, even though it feels better when you are doing it (by increasing blood flow to already uncontrolled contracting muscle and fueling more contraction) in favor of ice, which constricts blood vessels, reduces inflammation, and actually will speed healing.

I always tell patients that ribs are slow to heal for the same reason that feet are, it's hard not to use them (and we hope you don't STOP using them) ;-)

Hang in there!

It will get better....