Ribs can easily be knocked out of place, and they hurt like the dickens. I've had a couple. If you are of a mind to go to a chiropractor, they can easily slip it back into place. It hurts for a few seconds, and there will be residual pain, but it's better than taking narcotics and hoping it fixes itself. I wonder if possibly a PT could do the same thing.

Healing bones is dependent of the age of the patient. Young people heal much quicker so take that into the equation. Another factor is weight-bearing exercise, stronger bones typically heal faster.

An elderly person that doesn't do any weight-bearing exercise, doesn't get frequent sun exposure and has low calcium/magnesium levels will heal the slowest.

Yes, you probably cracked a rib. I fell very hard when our big lab knocked me down several years ago. Wasn’t all his fault. I thought I had injured my hip at first as it hurt badly, but then that pain mostly went away and my side started hurting. The hospital xrayed both but nothing showed. A few days later I went to my GP who did another X-ray and it showed the crack. He said sometimes the crack doesn’t show up at first if swelling is present, or the angle isn’t just right, or it is just hard to see.

So keep taking it easy. I found it hard to bend over, inhale deeply and cough for the first 3 weeks, but it began to subside, as you have noticed. Six weeks sounds about right.

I cracked a rib some years ago. I was carrying a 50 lb sack of feed, and tripped and landed on a concrete block. It was very, very painful. It hurt even when sitting still and doing nothing. I don't remember how long it took to heal, it was quite awhile before it quit hurting.

A fractured rib that is in place usually heals without intervention. A fractured rib that has moved out of place is a medical emergency. The risk is that the rib can puncture a lung or the liver, both are life threatening.

I have had a few that were out of place. It hurts terribly bad. And even now when the weather changes it feels like it did when it happened. I hope to never have any type of rib damage again! Good luck!

What bad luck! At least you were able to spend a few weeks in warm weather.

Rib pain is the worst! I've had several rib injuries and the first two weeks are miserable. Your timeline sounds about right. It'll just slowly keep getting better until one day you notice that it no longer hurts. In the meantime, if activities (such as shoveling snow) hurt, don't do those activities. Feel better soon!

Just an FYI some types of fractures if the displacement is small will not show up on xrays until after healing starts which creates a white area different from the surrounding bone. By small I mean no displacement of bone only a crack. This is why Outsides did not show up until the visit with the regular doctor. It is also the reason that sometimes especially with children with smaller bones ERs put a soft cast on and tell you to see your regular doctor if the pain does not subside for a few days.

I'm so sorry so many of you have experienced this! So glad everyone has healed up well. I am feeling better every day, and know that when I can sleep on my left side I will be all healed. No way to get around the snow shoveling, I just have to take it slow. Makes me deep breath, ha. Stay healthy, everyone, and don't fall!

It was at least 6 months before I was feeling fairly normal. But any bumps reminded me that they were not healed yet. Right now we are having cold wet weather and boy I am feeling those ribs.

Broken? rib (must have 15 characters to post? dumb)

If your title is shorter than 15 characters just hit the space bar to add spaces (blank characters).

I'm sorry your vacation was ruined. Why are you shoveling snow??!!

How unfortunate that you broke your rib on day 1 of your vacation! Heal soon and try to take it easy.

Kathsgrdn, I think that I remember that Sleeperblue's husband is confined to a wheelchair. Maybe that's why she has to shovel the snow.

When I slipped off my porch a couple of winters ago and landed on the stone wall, I thought I had surely done some damage because it was minutes before I could scrape myself up and back into the house, where I then had to lay down to catch my breath and get over the nausea.

Went to the urgent care, was examined and x-rayed and told "no broken bones".

Through the magic of ibuprofen I actually went to work the next day and wasn't too uncomfortable. The following day, I got down on my hands and knees to wipe up a spill on the floor, and the action of reaching forward to wipe did something -- intense pain again. I couldn't breathe from the pain so was sent to the ED for a CT scan -- yes, actually there was a stable fracture in my 1st thoracic vertebra, and now the rib fracture showed up as well. When in bed, if I lay on my side and rested my opposite hand on my chest, I could feel the rib clicking with each breath.

So it seems the action of cleaning managed to displace the fracture . I was told no lifting for 6 weeks.

I worry that you could do the same with the shoveling until the bone is well knit together.

Ouch!

I hope you aren't too miserable.

Fortunately, I've never broken any bones.

PKponder, I had to laugh at the comment that my husband is confined to a wheelchair because he is a whirling dervish of activity on 2 legs. You must be mistaking me for someone else. I'm not laughing about someone in a wheelchair, just that it's the exact opposite of my husband. The reason I'm shoveling snow is he was out of town, and I had to. Wisconsin is getting one of it's snowiest winters in a long time (since last year, ha ha) and I have to get to work. I have someone plow, but with an overnight snow they don't come until after I leave. Today is 3 weeks, and I'm much better. Even did body pump yesterday, just couldn't do the pushups and moved a little slower than usual. I think the more physical activity I have, the faster I will heal due to increased blood flow. At least that's what I'm telling myself.

I think you're doing the right thing (well maybe not the snow shoveling, but as you said, it can't be avoided). Doing some form of physical activity, albeit slow and easy is probably good. BUT I'm not talking from experience! I think, like you, that the blood flow would help.

I'm glad your hubby isn't in a wheelchair, I missed that posting if he were! I remember a pic you showed of him and your dog a couple of years ago :-)

PK, are you thinking of Casey Nfld? Seems her dh was wheelchair bound.

Sleeper so sorry you experienced that on your vacation and glad you are mending.

A couple of years ago I slipped walking down a hill, and landed with my full weight on my stiff, straight right arm, jarring and wrenching my shoulder and upper back. I was sure I had torn muscles or bruised something. It hurt, but not so much that I wanted to let it affect me. I continued on with life despite the pain, including playing in my twice weekly volleyball league. The pain continued for weeks, and I wasn't even really connecting the ongoing pain with the earlier fall. On a couple of instances the pain became very much worse, but I thought I had merely over done it. Eventually I went to my PCP and was sent for an x-ray. Upon getting home from the x-ray the doctor called saying I had a broken rib in my upper back, and that it looked "funny" and asked me to go back in for more x-rays, immediately if possible.

After the x-rays I was sent for a cat scan and later a bone scan. Because the break looked funny, ie. somewhat raggedy on the margins of the break, and because of its location, completely beneath my shoulder blade they were convinced that it was a bone lesion indicating bone cancer and they were looking for more.

In the end though the break was most likely caused by the shoulder blade due to the fall, and the raggedy appearance was due to it partially healing and being rebroken at least twice.

So the moral of the story is take it easy, and give your rib time to fully heal before too much physical activity -- such a shoveling snow.

Oops, apologies for the mistake. Maybe it was Casey that I'm thinking of.