UKC

Climbing with bruised or fractured ribs

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 stp 05 Jan 2015
I fell over a few days ago and damaged my ribs. Climbed a couple of days with pain killers. The first day was OK but the second day I had to stop because it was too painful. Without painkillers I'm climbing something like 6 grades below what I normally I do.

When I've had similar issues in the past I've found this kind of injury usually takes 5 or 6 weeks to get better. I certainly don't want that much time off now - just starting to feel reasonably strong and fit again.

What I'm wondering is whether the pain is necessarily indicative of further damage or not? If it's just bruised or fractured ribs how would climbing make them worse?
 whenry 05 Jan 2015
In reply to stp:

I've broken my ribs a couple of times - doctor's advice was keep climbing and do as much exercise as I could stand - apparently if they're broken, the rubbing of the broken bits stimulates bone growth and helps healing. The only caveat was "don't do anything dangerous" - which he then qualified as meaning soloing.
OP stp 05 Jan 2015
In reply to stp:

That's really interesting. Thanks.
 timjones 05 Jan 2015
In reply to stp:

> I fell over a few days ago and damaged my ribs. Climbed a couple of days with pain killers. The first day was OK but the second day I had to stop because it was too painful. Without painkillers I'm climbing something like 6 grades below what I normally I do.

> When I've had similar issues in the past I've found this kind of injury usually takes 5 or 6 weeks to get better. I certainly don't want that much time off now - just starting to feel reasonably strong and fit again.

> What I'm wondering is whether the pain is necessarily indicative of further damage or not? If it's just bruised or fractured ribs how would climbing make them worse?

If it's hurting that much I'd take a rest. I broke 5 ribs 4 days before setting out to climb The Old Man of Hoy, I doped myself up with Co-Codamol and carried on climbing regardless. 2 years later they are still painful at night, it really isn't worth it IMO.
 john morrissey 05 Jan 2015
In reply to timjones:

I cracked a rib a couple of months ago, climbing on it was out of the question, it was just too painful. I was advised, rest keep it moving but NO strenuous exercise. It seems there is no definitive answer to this one. it is like any injury, cover it up with pain killers and it will not go away and you can make things a whole lot worse in the long run.

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