Is this normal - Pain in ribs after fall of bike in July returning now

[MmeLindt]

I have a cold and a bad cough and am feeling sorry for myself.

Now to add to my misery, my ribs have started hurting. Not when I cough, but when I turn around in bed.

I fell off my bike in July and bruised my ribs, it took weeks before I was pain free and it has never really completely gone. Taking deep breaths still gives me an occasional twinge.

Is this normal? I suspect that there is nothing I could do about it anyway, is there?

Its likely normal, but no harm in asking your GP about it, just incase

I'm pretty much in the same boat, cracked & bruised ribs a couple of months back & now have had a virus thats become some sort of sinus & chest infection, so like you, very run down & coughing, & my ribs are very sore again too.........

I had asked my GP, before the virus etc started as to why I was still so sore on trying to excersize etc, as it seemed to be taking longer to heal than a previous similar injury.......she said that it really depends on how much damage you did, where you hit etc, & they normally say 2 months to heal, but it can be anything up to 6, & sometimes even more

so from that, unfortunately it sounds pretty normal........... I'm finding heat pads helping a bit, along with the usual pain killer

It's more likely to be muscular pain if it hurts when you move. Have you been taking your arnica? It sounded like a nasty fall when you first did it, it's probable that you ripped a muscle and it's not quite healed yet. Your GP is better at diagnosing this then me though. Ibuprofen should help as it's an anti-inflammatory as well as a pain killer (don't take if you are asthmatic & have not had this before or if you have had a reaction to it before -little disclaimer here )

I really do hope it sorts itself out very soon, it sounds very painful.

Thanks for the reassurance.

Not taking ibuprofen, as I am on industrial strength Lemsip.

It is not bad enough to need pain killers really, just a twinge every now and then.

Lemsip's paracetamol isn't it? You can take ibuprofen and paracetamol together, check the other ingredients in the lemsip first though.

It's going to take time. Pop and see your GP if it gets worse though, they are qualified and I'm not.

Cold worse but ribs not so bad at the moment. Thanks for advice, will see doc if it gets worse.

It sounds like a locking of the rib joint where it joins the spine of one of the spinal joints itself. This sort of problem often comes and goes after an injury like the bike fall as the stiff joints cannot unlock themselves - the inflammation just eases so the pain goes away temporarily.
I am a chiropractor here and we see lots of this sort of thing. It ususally responds well in a few visits. For your nearest one go to chiropractic-uk.co.uk

That is interesting, GP. I will have a look for a chiropractor here (we are not in UK. Thanks.

Hi MmeLindt
If you are in Europe go to www.ecunion.eu/default.asp to find a good one. Bon chance.

Thanks, GP. Very helpful.