Anyone know what injury I might have? (ribs related)

krunko · 07-14-2009, 02:10 PM

I took a fairly hard knee to my lower left ribs while trying to pass guard. It slightly knocked the wind out of me, but when I took it I figured it was just a really bad bruise.

A colored bruise on my body never really showed up (maybe a very faint one for a few days). It doesn't hurt when I just sit there and breathe, but if I sneeze, jump around, or just kind of do anything that stretches the muscles like sit ups, it hurts. I figured if it was just a bruise it would be better by now, but it hasn't gotten any better yet.

Any suggestions on what this might be? I figure if I don't feel a difference in a few days I'll just have to go to the doctor. I want to get back to rolling ASAP. :-(

Thanks guys,

Chance

Chesten_Hesten · 07-14-2009, 03:41 PM

It might be something similar to the ribs trying to seperate?

I've had broken ribs and seperated ribs, (where the tissue and muscle inbetween get strained and or torn) and this sounds like it could be the latter, or else maybe the ribs themselves got bruised?

For me it just took time, like more time than I wanted it too, like several weeks before I could start doing anything, and then I had a big ass lump where the one rib was sticking up. After a couple months or so it went away, but it was a bitch for a while and you just have to be careful not to reinjure it.

I guess you might as well goto the doctor if it doesn't get better, but mostly they'll charge you for the visit to tell you to take it easy until it gets better.

as an alternative you might search webmd or something to check the symptoms. For something like this, sometimes self diagnosis is ok.

krunko · 07-14-2009, 04:41 PM

I have health insurance, so it's not a big deal for me to go to risk going to the doctor. I'll mention the injury to my BJJ professor and ask him if he thinks it's a torn ligament or rib seperation or something. He did mention that to me when I first hurt it, and he said it's a pain because it usually takes at least 4 weeks to heal.

Thanks for the help.

Scarymonster · 07-14-2009, 04:45 PM

I had something like that a few yrs ago. I figured it was a cracked rib from how I got the injury. Nothing a Dr can do for that anyway. So I waited for a few weeks and it got better.

$ick Money! · 07-14-2009, 11:14 PM

You may have bruised or torn the intercostal muscle tissue. Hopefully not, as 30-90 days rest is the only cure. As noted before, it may be a cracked rib as well.

Unlimited88 · 07-15-2009, 03:24 PM

I just got over this exact thing after taking a pretty vicious knee to the ribs during MT sparring. I finally got it x-rayed when I was in the hospital getting stitches on my shin anyway (don't ask).
They said I probably cracked my ribs. That or or just a bad bruise.

All you can really do is take it easy for awhile. I tried training with it and it only prolonged the injury. Be careful too because if it is cracked and you try to spar someone might hit you there again and it can puncture your lungs. No bueno.

Just rest for awhile. I know it sucks to sit on your ass all day but resting it now means you'll be back to 100% sooner. Good luck.

Newt · 07-18-2009, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by krunko

I took a fairly hard knee to my lower left ribs while trying to pass guard. It slightly knocked the wind out of me, but when I took it I figured it was just a really bad bruise.

A colored bruise on my body never really showed up (maybe a very faint one for a few days). It doesn't hurt when I just sit there and breathe, but if I sneeze, jump around, or just kind of do anything that stretches the muscles like sit ups, it hurts. I figured if it was just a bruise it would be better by now, but it hasn't gotten any better yet.

Any suggestions on what this might be? I figure if I don't feel a difference in a few days I'll just have to go to the doctor. I want to get back to rolling ASAP. :-(

Thanks guys,

Chance

I fractured my 8th-9th right ribs in December the same way (taking a knee when someone was trying to pass my guard) and broke another guys ribs doing a takedown and landing on him hard in side mount the year prior. I have also broke and/or separated other ribs in similar ways. However, never have my fractures shown up on x-rays. Only several months after my most recent incident did I confirm that the 8th-9th ribs were in fact broken and that was only because I had an abdominal CT scan for an unrelated reason. Unless your lung is punctured or something else very serious, which I'm sure you'd know by now, there's nothing the doc can do for you except give you pain medicine. Sometimes they give you a breathing exercise device (can't recall name off the top of my head) so that you don't develop shallow breathing patterns and develop pneumonia, but that's about it. You should recover fully in 2-4 months whether they're broken or just separated (which is many times more painful).

grapplingnub** · 07-18-2009, 06:43 PM

you have an injury that should be diagnosed by a doctor, and not people on an online forum who have "had something that sounds like that".

stickies n33b

NielsLouwes · 07-20-2009, 12:38 PM

Yea, I would get your ribs look at by a proffesional asap, I took a very hard knee in kickboxing training while sparring hard in prep. for a fight and thought nothing of it. Few days later when I lifted I experienced the worst pain ever. Turns out 1 broken rib and 4 surrounding ribs fractured. I'm just now all healed up, and this was 4-5 months ago.

ozbrawler · 07-23-2009, 03:03 AM

yeah i say the same go the docs bro eh, ive seperated the intercostals between the ribs a couple of times and sounds like that, wasnt to ba for me but can be annoying eh so jsut go find out incase its something worse than thought.