Hi, on March 30th I suffered a pulmonary contusion and a compound fracture of the seventh rib that remained in line. Today, after 14 days, I would like to resume indoor activity before the radiological check-up on April 22nd. Does anyone have any experience with this? Should I trust the pain?
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What your doc says matters far more than anyone here.
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I only bruised my ribs two years ago and it was extremely painful….so I can’t imagine your situation.
Like @mcneese.chad said, follow what your doc says. Even if they are extremely conservative, I’d rather sacrifice a few weeks or months now vs. suffering a setback or long-term consequences.
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I injured my ribs somehow strength training. It didn’t hurt that much so I kept riding for several days without much of a problem. Did a Zwift race about 5-6 days after the injury and it started to hurt. Did another Zwift race two days later, and after that I couldn’t lie down without pain for almost two weeks and it was a full 6ish weeks to recover.
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Talk to your doctor, not WebTR
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Non volevo mettere in discussione quello che dicono i medici.
Volevo avere un parere su casi simili accaduti a altri ciclisti
One thing I did with my bruised ribs, which helped a lot with the pain, was acupuncture. It caused my rib cage muscles to relax and helped ease the pain and make it tolerable.
Had 2 different sessions and both saw a significant improvement.
I recently had multiple fractures on two ribs, accidental hockey collision. I waited about three weeks before some easier indoor rides. Then skied for a week, as could only defer trip one week. Been riding lots two months later with no pain but still not fully recovered. I think just muscular pain and mostly sleep related. Doctor told me nothing, but I really did not ask about training.
Good luck finding a medical doctor that understands recovery, other than “no physical activity until your skin has no signs of cuts, bruising. If you can wait until anything pink-ish turns back to regular color”.
Maybe try an elastic binder to keep things in place?
Not recommended by doctors as it can cause more issues.
I’ve had 2 broken ribs (2022 and 2023). I was on the trainer 2 days later. My only restrictions were that I had to stay seated and endurance zone. I was riding outside after 2 weeks (gravel). Obviously do what your doctor recommends, but the advice I was given was as long as I didn’t fall on my injured rib and kept my training to z2, I wouldn’t cause any problems. What’s a bigger concern is sneezing, coughing and/or laughing, so avoid all of that. YMMV
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I’m also on the team that says this is a discussion for you and your doctor.
While others in the world may have had similar experiences, each one is unique, and it’s almost never comparing apples to apples.
Don’t do anything without your doctor’s consent if you want to heal up properly and quickly.
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Definitely agree with everyone else that each case is different (even just the location of the injury plays a role). I’ve recounted this in other threads, but since it sounds like my injury was somewhat similar to yours, and with the slight advantage of being a physician married to a physician with 2 physician in-laws who helped plan recovery)
–12/30/24–slipped on ice carrying ski boots over my shoulder, landed on the boots (never got to ski). 9 fractures across 4 ribs, small pneumothorax, admitted; 3 days later had bleeding into the chest cavity, got chest tube, 1500 cc of blood and fluid taken out, transferred, surgery, another pneumothorax when chest tube pulled. Total 10 days in hospital, but couldn’t fly home for another 10 days. Recovered with my sister-in-law (a pulmonologist) and her husband, an orthopedic surgeon and cyclist who, living in rural Colorado, has a lot of experience with recovery from trauma. With them, I put together a rough outline of getting back.
–Started 12 days after with 20 minutes on treadmill, slowly adding time, stopping with any pain
–Start of 3rd week was able to get on the trainer, 30 minutes recovery rides, adding 10 minutes every day. Because of the location of my fractures, I didn’t have any pain on the bike.
–By 4th week all the fluid around my lung had gone, was given green light by the pulmonologist here (a runner) to start training indoors based on how I felt, wait for 6 weeks before any outdoor riding. At the end of that week, had the flu, which set me back another week.
-6 weeks post injury, started back on a training plan. At the end of that week, did an easy MTB ride with my daughter’s NICA team (I bought one of these for the first few rides since the padding perfectly covered the location of my injury, but only wore it once:Amazon.com)
–Pretty much back to normal by now, regular training schedule, riding as a coach and marshal on the NICA races. Probably won’t make it back to my peak FTP of last year before CX season, but at 63 I’ll take what I can get.
Ciao e grazie.
Sicuramente la mia lesione è molto meno grave della tua.
Una sola costola e una lieve contusione polmonare.
Ho pedalato sul trainer dopo 13 GG e apparte un leggero fastidio alla frattura giĂą dalla bici non ho nessun tipo di problema.
Aspetto dei raggi di controllo per essere totalmente sicuro di riprendere 25 GG dopo il trauma come d’ accordo con il mio medico e pneumologo
My Dr. said no riding for 6 weeks. I was back on the trainer on day 3 and on the road after 3 weeks. Everything turned out great. Be smart, but just because they went to medical school doesn’t mean they know everything.
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