Rib Injuries

[PenSki]

So I’ve done my first ever rib injury. Hard fall onto my left shoulder and there was a definite feeling of unnatural movement in my ribs just below my armpit. Didn’t feel like bones breaking though. But 10 days later the pain is still there and I don’t feel ready to hit trails again yet.

So I’m wondering how common rib trauma is from the body impacting flat ground like I did or is it more generally from falling onto objects like rocks and roots?

 

[flash]

I'm currently nursing my third rib injury in the last couple of years. Once I broke a couple. If you do a sneeze or cough will have you on the floor for the first 5 days. I've done both flat ground and rock (the current one). Both hurt.

Without a break I'll ride (with tape and armour) after 14 days but it takes three or four weeks to feel like you're over it. My break was more like 6-7 weeks before I rode and a solid month of real pain (especially when lying down.

I'm currently reading @Zimmerframe posts on armour with interest and I do ride with protection now. Stopped in summer due to heat stroke and over I go again.......

Gordon

 

[Zimmerframe]

So I’m wondering how common rib trauma is from the body impacting flat ground like I did or is it more generally from falling onto objects like rocks and roots?

I think on most falls people get away with it. I had a crazy number of falls early on trying to "play catchup" late into the game .. first broken ribs were on a very large fallen tree - you'd almost call this a flat injury rather than an object - if the speed and angle are just right .. splat....

As @flash says, you can generally get riding again if you want. It's just vitally important that you armour up as you don't want to injure yourself if you already have a fracture, it can cause all sorts of far worse problems. If you're patent, it can be better to just wait. I'm not. I also find if I wait I have all sort of other problems from not doing things. I also find getting back on the bike puts me in a better place psychologically when healing.

For Front ribs I find I can ride in a few days, but you have to be really relaxed and can't get too physical, if you tense up it will hurt like hell. Depending on the fracture, pain levels can start diminishing after a couple of weeks. My latest ones are easing off at 4 weeks, but it's generally 6 weeks before you don't give them a second thought and they're normally fully healed.

For back ribs, I find I can't ride until they're further on the road to healed. They just hurt too much for me. The last ones I think it was about 3 or 4 weeks before I felt I could hold myself on the bike properly (that was a horse kick though, so was a fairly brutal impact that knocked me 6 meters through the air).

I find after each accident I end up re-evaulating my protection. Ultimately you can't armour for every eventuality and you have to find a balance with heat and movement. You still need to be comfortable and able to ride.

Hope you heal up quickly. Icing 3 or 4 times a day should speed things up by reducing inflammation. Arnica also seems to help with breaks.
Ultimately, I think most will be from an object, but if you carry enough speed or just land at an unfortunately angle, there can still be a huge amount of energy being applied. My latest were from a double tree stump hit with substantial force to the chest. I was lightly armoured. Light armour will stop/reduce a huge number of injuries won't stop a break with a focused impact though. If I'd not been lightly armoured I really wouldn't like to think what kind of physical damage I would have. As it was I bounced off the stump, hit a tree and some logs then ricocheted off down trail. It really really hurt .. I passed out ..

 

[PenSki]

Zimmer they may as well award you early entry to the ”get back on the horse again” Hall of Fame. And we all get to benefit from your misfortune with your excellent armour reviews.

Hey Flash I see that you too are in Oz. I have ordered the short sleeved version of Zimmer’s recommended TLD armour but am really concerned about the heat of summer approaching ( I sweat like Niagara Falls). After heat stroke do you simply skip all armour in the Summer?

 

[bbred]

So I’ve done my first ever rib injury. Hard fall onto my left shoulder and there was a definite feeling of unnatural movement in my ribs just below my armpit. Didn’t feel like bones breaking though. But 10 days later the pain is still there and I don’t feel ready to hit trails again yet.

So I’m wondering how common rib trauma is from the body impacting flat ground like I did or is it more generally from falling onto objects like rocks and roots?

You are not alone. Rib injury last week when the biked stopped and I tried to pass through the bars like a Harry Potter ghost through a wall only I met with physics! Its very painful (came off last year too) but you do get better. I was wearing body protection at the time as I knew the ground was rough and a good chance of being knocked about. So if you are in any doubt get checked by a Doctor and invest in some good protection

 

[dobbyhasfriends]

every time ive done ribs, rugby or riding, its always been a 2-6 week recovery depending on extent.. @Zimmerframe is deffo the resident expert and obviously as hard as a coffin nail but for a wimp like me, I usually leave off riding for at least a month..

 

[RCDallas]

I had a fall on flat ground that broke 3 ribs and punctured a lung! Crazy, I was only going about 5 kmph on a gravel bike and hit the edge of a stone path running parallel to my direction of travel and sticking up about a half inch, hardly even visible, and it threw me down so fast that I had zero time to react. Picked myself up and rode home, about 2 miles, washed the bikes and went up for a shower. That's when the pain hit... couldn't catch my breath (lung partially collapsed) and any movement sent excruciating pain throughout my body. Ended up getting an ambulance ride and a bunch of morphine to get me through till the doctors assessed the damage. Needed a chest tube and 3-weeks recovery in the hospital before being released back home. Got rid of the gravel bike (was actually a friend's) and bought my Turbo Levo Comp....2.6 tires and 800mm handlebars won't let that happen again!

 

[flash]

Zimmer they may as well award you early entry to the ”get back on the horse again” Hall of Fame. And we all get to benefit from your misfortune with your excellent armour reviews.

Hey Flash I see that you too are in Oz. I have ordered the short sleeved version of Zimmer’s recommended TLD armour but am really concerned about the heat of summer approaching ( I sweat like Niagara Falls). After heat stroke do you simply skip all armour in the Summer?

I did last year. It just got too damn hot. And then my confidence was up and I made a simple rookie error on a green trail about 4 weeks ago. According to @RobNevn it was like a pile driver put me into the ground.

I really do want something I can ride in in summer, even if it just reduces the injury somewhat. This weekend I'm going to try out the Fox Raceframe roost without the back section on and see if it's comfortable. It certainly has the airflow and has some protection around the side ribs. Then something more substantial when it's colder. I did like the Fly Racing vest. Very comfortable. Light rib protection but D30 style back protector. Easy to get on and off and not too hot. Will try the TLD vest when it arrives.

I think the trick will be to find a shirt with heaps of ventilation to go over whatever armour I wear. It's just near impossible to tell from online pictures so I'll have to scour some bike shops between now and mid spring to see what I can find.

Gordon

p.s. I do wear the IXS armoured lycra shorts with chamois and they have almost completely eliminated all the bruises and scrapes on my butt, thighs and hips I get falling off. I can ride with those all year.

 

[Andrie]

I had a fall on my left shoulder and like you had pain in my rib area near the arm pit. A week after the fall I did X-ray and confirmed I had a non displaced fracture. Took 5 weeks to be comfortable and 6 weeks to I don’t feel it anymore. But I tried push up in week 4 and it was fine. It was more painful to do a pull up.

 

[Zimmerframe]

I did last year. It just got too damn hot. And then my confidence was up and I made a simple rookie error on a green trail about 4 weeks ago. According to @RobNevn it was like a pile driver put me into the ground.

I really do want something I can ride in in summer, even if it just reduces the injury somewhat. This weekend I'm going to try out the Fox Raceframe roost without the back section on and see if it's comfortable. It certainly has the airflow and has some protection around the side ribs. Then something more substantial when it's colder. I did like the Fly Racing vest. Very comfortable. Light rib protection but D30 style back protector. Easy to get on and off and not too hot. Will try the TLD vest when it arrives.

I think the trick will be to find a shirt with heaps of ventilation to go over whatever armour I wear. It's just near impossible to tell from online pictures so I'll have to scour some bike shops between now and mid spring to see what I can find.

Gordon

p.s. I do wear the IXS armoured lycra shorts with chamois and they have almost completely eliminated all the bruises and scrapes on my butt, thighs and hips I get falling off. I can ride with those all year.

Be interesting to see how you get on. The protection area isn't too bad, it looks light weight and looks like it has good airflow. I tried to get one to try, but could only find the next ones up with the extra padding which looked too hot as I wanted it to over armour the 7855 with some hard plastic.

The also do an "R3" - doesn't look like the panels flex as much as the roost, but similarly ventilated, but it does have a bit of extra shoulder protection.

 

[Pdoz]

So I’ve done my first ever rib injury. Hard fall onto my left shoulder and there was a definite feeling of unnatural movement in my ribs just below my armpit. Didn’t feel like bones breaking though. But 10 days later the pain is still there and I don’t feel ready to hit trails again yet.

So I’m wondering how common rib trauma is from the body impacting flat ground like I did or is it more generally from falling onto objects like rocks and roots?

About 2 weeks after most rib fractures you'll gave a particularly bad day where the pain increases - just as the healing bones almost bridge the gap. Don't sneeze / strain for the next couple of days because there is nothing worse than that second crack! Except the third....

Oh, and try not to puncture a lung.

 

[steve_sordy]

Amongst other stuff I wear elbow guards. Three times now when I have fallen off and landed on my side I have jolted my shoulder and caused ligament injuries. But at the same time, the elbow guard was banged into my ribs. Fortunately I have never broken any ribs, but the damage I did do was bad enough to be super painful and took weeks to heal. I can't imagine how painful actual broken ribs would be!

 

[apac]

So I’ve done my first ever rib injury. Hard fall onto my left shoulder and there was a definite feeling of unnatural movement in my ribs just below my armpit. Didn’t feel like bones breaking though. But 10 days later the pain is still there and I don’t feel ready to hit trails again yet.

So I’m wondering how common rib trauma is from the body impacting flat ground like I did or is it more generally from falling onto objects like rocks and roots?

hard fall for me back in July at Bike Park Wales. Hard ground, landed on shoulder and also bruised ribs. Painful for 3 weeks. As you can see it seems to be a VERY common injury. I was wearing inbuilt shoulder pads on my POC vpd jacket. This doesn't really offer cushioning as the pads are hard. It makes me wonder how much longer I can do this sport at 47 due to lengthening body repair times

 

[flash]

hard fall for me back in July at Bike Park Wales. Hard ground, landed on shoulder and also bruised ribs. Painful for 3 weeks. As you can see it seems to be a VERY common injury. I was wearing inbuilt shoulder pads on my POC vpd jacket. This doesn't really offer cushioning as the pads are hard. It makes me wonder how much longer I can do this sport at 47 due to lengthening body repair times

I’m 56. So at least 9 more years,,,,,,,,

Gordon

 

[JackieA]

Touch wood but haven't damaged any for a while. a few years ago I was sent for a chest xray due to a persistent cold - when I visited the doctor , he took one look and asked "

 

[PenSki]

Hmmm, seems Jackie was whisked away mid sentence?

Seems most rib injuries is just impact with flat ground then. Let’s not think about chest first onto rocks and logs.

Hey Gordon what happens at 65, is that official MTB retirement age?

 

[Maz]

Be interesting to see how you get on. The protection area isn't too bad, it looks light weight and looks like it has good airflow. I tried to get one to try, but could only find the next ones up with the extra padding which looked too hot as I wanted it to over armour the 7855 with some hard plastic.

View attachment 38825

The also do an "R3" - doesn't look like the panels flex as much as the roost, but similarly ventilated, but it does have a bit of extra shoulder protection.

View attachment 38826

A great review that I have read on the other thread.

We all think we're invincible? I have switched to eMTB as I had a serious crash in 2013.

I was wearing body armour, I slipped on a tree root and had a fall. I thought I'd cracked my ribs? I decided to leave our group and cycle the 15 miles home. It was the longest 15 miles of my life. I collapsed on my doorstep and next thing I was in hospital.....then I woke up the next day in intensive care, minus my spleen and 8 pints of other people's blood.

The bars had punctured between my armour and ruptured my spleen. 5 days later I was able to walk out of the hospital and then spent 6 months recovering. I'll never be the same rider again as the accident haunts me. An eMTB has allowed me to go further.

Wear armour....Give Blood! I wish i could personally thank those who donated to save my life.

 

[apac]

Maan,, what are we all doing? every rider I speak to on forums or in person has had a nasty crash at some point. Some life Changing, some Never properly healing and many having lengthy recovery times. what year did mountain biking become this dangerous?

 

[Paul Mac]

I'm seriously looking at torso armour now, it seems every time I go down now, I end up with a rib or shoulder injury.
They take months to heal now, well to be honest I don't think they ever heal properly which is why they get hurt so easily.
I think its your elbow hit the side of your ribs.

 

[Zimmerframe]

Maan,, what are we all doing? every rider I speak to on forums or in person has had a nasty crash at some point. Some life Changing, some Never properly healing and many having lengthy recovery times. what year did mountain biking become this dangerous?

It's all relative. Whatever you do in life, there's a chance of injury, armouring up theoretically reduces those injuries though won't guarantee it by any stretch of the imagination. Plus were all different on what we're comfortable wearing and psychologically, what we think might happen or even what people will think. I was greeted with "ROBOCOP" on Sunday .. the other guys all armour up now, but under their shirts - I don't care and I'd rather be cool.

You could sit on the sofa all your life and die of a heart attack - or possibly gain enough weight to crash through the floor in an ever accelerating pancake of death as you kill the 20 neighbours who live below you ...

The day I fractured my pelvis last year (emtb incompetence) a friend fractured his and did lots of other things too - by falling off the third step of a step ladder in his garage.

The day of my latest accident, another friend (Husband of my ex....) fell off his road bike at low speed and snapped off his hip joint ...

Sh1t happens .. at least with EMTB you know there's a chance you'll have a off so can make some preparations. Who armours up to go up a step ladder !

 

[Zimmerframe]

I think its your elbow hit the side of your ribs.

The "Sordy" Technique !

I really thought with the vast amount of tassels he has on his bike and person, it would act as protection. I mean, how much tinsel can you squeeze into a single box when you're dismantling the xmas decorations. Meters of plasticised metallic imitation pubic hair is far less compressible than most body armours.

 

[flash]

Hmmm, seems Jackie was whisked away mid sentence?

Seems most rib injuries is just impact with flat ground then. Let’s not think about chest first onto rocks and logs.

Hey Gordon what happens at 65, is that official MTB retirement age?

I follow the following life rule......

"If you haven't grown up by 50, you don't have too".

I have a new bike arriving next week or the week after. I'm only just getting started.

Gordon

p.s. did the chest into rocks on the last fall. flat ground the two before that. All involved Superman impressions. None successful.

 

[flash]

Maan,, what are we all doing? every rider I speak to on forums or in person has had a nasty crash at some point. Some life Changing, some Never properly healing and many having lengthy recovery times. what year did mountain biking become this dangerous?

In my case it's a pathological overestimation of my own ability combined with no idea how close my handlebars are getting to that tree.

Personally I'd rather go down off a bike than sitting in a lounge chair. Actually, now I think about it my most painful and long term injury was from tennis. 6-9 months. Bursitis and steroid injections hurt like a bitch........

As for the year? I think it was around 1985.

Gordon

 

[steve_sordy]

hard fall for me back in July at Bike Park Wales. Hard ground, landed on shoulder and also bruised ribs. Painful for 3 weeks. As you can see it seems to be a VERY common injury. I was wearing inbuilt shoulder pads on my POC vpd jacket. This doesn't really offer cushioning as the pads are hard. It makes me wonder how much longer I can do this sport at 47 due to lengthening body repair times

You have got at least another twenty years in you yet and probably many more. I'm already 22 years older than you and I plan to keep going until I get banned on the grounds of public safety.

 

[JackieA]

Hmmm, seems Jackie was whisked away mid sentence?

Seems most rib injuries is just impact with flat ground then. Let’s not think about chest first onto rocks and logs.

Hey Gordon what happens at 65, is that official MTB retirement age?

Re the question about retirement age - should I have stopped riding 11 years ago?

 

[JackieA]

Touch wood but haven't damaged any for a while. a few years ago I was sent for a chest xray due to a persistent cold - when I visited the doctor , he took one look and asked "

Just how many times have you cracked a rib?

 

[High Rock Ruti]

I think on most falls people get away with it. I had a crazy number of falls early on trying to "play catchup" late into the game .. first broken ribs were on a very large fallen tree - you'd almost call this a flat injury rather than an object - if the speed and angle are just right .. splat....

As @flash says, you can generally get riding again if you want. It's just vitally important that you armour up as you don't want to injure yourself if you already have a fracture, it can cause all sorts of far worse problems. If you're patent, it can be better to just wait. I'm not. I also find if I wait I have all sort of other problems from not doing things. I also find getting back on the bike puts me in a better place psychologically when healing.

For Front ribs I find I can ride in a few days, but you have to be really relaxed and can't get too physical, if you tense up it will hurt like hell. Depending on the fracture, pain levels can start diminishing after a couple of weeks. My latest ones are easing off at 4 weeks, but it's generally 6 weeks before you don't give them a second thought and they're normally fully healed.

For back ribs, I find I can't ride until they're further on the road to healed. They just hurt too much for me. The last ones I think it was about 3 or 4 weeks before I felt I could hold myself on the bike properly (that was a horse kick though, so was a fairly brutal impact that knocked me 6 meters through the air).

I find after each accident I end up re-evaulating my protection. Ultimately you can't armour for every eventuality and you have to find a balance with heat and movement. You still need to be comfortable and able to ride.

Hope you heal up quickly. Icing 3 or 4 times a day should speed things up by reducing inflammation. Arnica also seems to help with breaks.
Ultimately, I think most will be from an object, but if you carry enough speed or just land at an unfortunately angle, there can still be a huge amount of energy being applied. My latest were from a double tree stump hit with substantial force to the chest. I was lightly armoured. Light armour will stop/reduce a huge number of injuries won't stop a break with a focused impact though. If I'd not been lightly armoured I really wouldn't like to think what kind of physical damage I would have. As it was I bounced off the stump, hit a tree and some logs then ricocheted off down trail. It really really hurt .. I passed out ..

High Rock Ruti

My last fall wearing forcefield road racing armor directly on ribs resulted in severe bruising. That's what I thought x-rays last week showed another fracture. I've only fallen hard on the upper body armor once, still broke the rid however. The insight is that if you impact/compress your ribs with enough force, they still fracture. Oddly with five broken ribs in 6 years it has never sidelined me from riding. HOWEVER! Sleeping, coughing, sneezing, laughing, bumping the ribs hurts like hell. Best drug for broken ribs is Flexeril, it's the muscles splinting/contracting ironically to protect the ribs that is the painful part muscle relaxants, not pain killers relax the contractions.

 

[yomoe]

Be interesting to see how you get on. The protection area isn't too bad, it looks light weight and looks like it has good airflow. I tried to get one to try, but could only find the next ones up with the extra padding which looked too hot as I wanted it to over armour the 7855 with some hard plastic.

View attachment 38825

The also do an "R3" - doesn't look like the panels flex as much as the roost, but similarly ventilated, but it does have a bit of extra shoulder protection.

View attachment 38826

You guys should check out the G-Form one. Its basically a compression shirt with the G-Form reactive padding in all critical areas...like the ribs. I've been wearing one all summer mainly at the Parks. It easily fits under most shirts and has between pretty comfortable wearing. I also looked at the fox offerings, and the one shown above is pretty much open to your ribs on the sides...its not as rib protective as it looks in the picture

Pro-X MTB Padded Compression Shirt

Protection anatomically designed to flex with you, so you don’t have to sacrifice movement while wearing a padded compression shirt. The incredible comfort and durability of the G-Form Men's Pro-X Shirt make it ideal for heavy use and repeated washings.

g-form.com

 

[Zimmerframe]

You guys should check out the G-Form one.

The g-form stuff always looks really cool. It's certainly light weight, packs down to nothing, flexes really easy and is comfortable to wear.

It just doesn't feel like it actually does anything protection wise for most high impact accidents.

If you take @High Rock Ruti. He fractured a rib wearing forcefield armour. That covers quite a large area and is the highest rated armour you can buy. If he'd been wearing the g-form compression shirt, there's nothing there to spread his impact - the armour area itself is tiny and the armour is incredibly thin - it can only absorb so much energy.

The other problem is the armour segments are small. This is probably great if you slide down the road on your road bike, or slide down some gravel. But if you hit something with force, it can't disperse the energy (no matter what the pictures say).

Try it with a Banana or something. Put the banana in a bag so you don't get banana everywhere.

Put the banana on a hard surface with something weight spreading over it - like a piece of wood. Then one finger punch the wood over the banana. The wood will spread the energy. If you hit hard enough it will still squash the banana. You'd need some foam under the wood to absorb the dispersed energy to stop that.

Try it again with your g-form over it. The individual piece you hit will harden, but because it's such a tiny area, nearly all the energy will be passed through to the (now flat) banana and the other tiny armour panels will conveniently flex out of the way.

That's what happened when I tried it anyway.

 

[High Rock Ruti]

The g-form stuff always looks really cool. It's certainly light weight, packs down to nothing, flexes really easy and is comfortable to wear.

It just doesn't feel like it actually does anything protection wise for most high impact accidents.

If you take @High Rock Ruti. He fractured a rib wearing forcefield armour. That covers quite a large area and is the highest rated armour you can buy. If he'd been wearing the g-form compression shirt, there's nothing there to spread his impact - the armour area itself is tiny and the armour is incredibly thin - it can only absorb so much energy.

The other problem is the armour segments are small. This is probably great if you slide down the road on your road bike, or slide down some gravel. But if you hit something with force, it can't disperse the energy (no matter what the pictures say).

Try it with a Banana or something. Put the banana in a bag so you don't get banana everywhere.

Put the banana on a hard surface with something weight spreading over it - like a piece of wood. Then one finger punch the wood over the banana. The wood will spread the energy. If you hit hard enough it will still squash the banana. You'd need some foam under the wood to absorb the dispersed energy to stop that.

Try it again with your g-form over it. The individual piece you hit will harden, but because it's such a tiny area, nearly all the energy will be passed through to the (now flat) banana and the other tiny armour panels will conveniently flex out of the way.

That's what happened when I tried it anyway.

High Rock Ruti

That's it "fruit -armor" it's brilliant and if your ready to take a chance on unprotected injuries you can replace burnt carbohydrates. I wonder if organic provides better protection?