I know how you feel. Two weeks ago, I was power-walking when I tripped over some uneven sidewalk and came crashing down hard on my right side. I was able to use my arm to break my fall, but I still managed to bruise some ribs. It wasn’t that bad the first night, but the following day I was incredibly sore, so I started taking ibuprofen.
I googled “bruised ribs” and learned that it can take many weeks for them to heal. I thought of going to the doctor to see if I broke any, but even if I had broken something, I knew there wasn’t much they could do about it except tell me to avoid twisting and turning as much as possible, which I was already doing anyway.
My only real problem was at night. If I rolled over in my sleep onto my right side, the pain would jar me awake, and that was happening 5 or 6 times a night. Eventually, the pain lessened, and after about two weeks, I could hardly feel it at all. I’m back to power-walking eight miles a day and attending gym fitness classes twice a week. All’s well that ends well. No money was spent, and no doctors were involved.
Rib pain is up there in some of the worse pains ever. IMO.
I’ve had it before on a few occasions.
I’m happy you’re up and power walking again. I forgot about walking. I’ll find out in the morning what it feels like. Normally I sorta stroll thru the woods. We go up and down grades so I get the cardio and the muscle building(I hope). Lately we’ve power walked down the driveway mainly because it’s so dang cold.
I sleep on my right side in a ball. Happy this latest is on the left side.
I would recommend you take your time and not push it. They take so long to heal because the ribs keep moving because of your breathing. After a week or two, if you feel like things are healing well, you can do more strenuous activities, but there is no hurry. These things take time.
Beck, I wondered if you’re like me, in grabbing a death grip on rails or ledges when going down. My family has always noticed how I get gnarled hands from trying to prop myself when I’m passing out from the heat or something else.
Totally know the feeling. At our previous house in the mountains the driveway got real slick. To the point of if you went down, you could not stand. Yac-Tracs where your friend.
Most of my falls look like something the Three Stoogies would do. Complete with sound effects.
One time I went down I crawled to the shed to get some salt to spread so I could get back to the house.
Years ago I slipped on an icy front stoop (why it was icy I don’t know; it had been above freezing for a while) and fell on my back. I went to work like I normally would, knowing that when I lay down I’d have a hard time getting back up. It was extremely hard when I had to get up for Ms. P to take me to the doctor. The back pain was bad enough that I didn’t notice my shoulder, which became frozen several months later. Fortunately there were no long term effects.
