anyone had a costal cartilage injury?

mbukfan

As a result of a bike crash I've now got a couple of ribs that were disconected from my sternum. two may have had mminor fractures but they've got better. There doesn't seem to be much info o recoivery time on the torn costal cartilage though.
Has anyone else had this problem?

benneally

Ouch, sorry i dont know. What happened :? sounds pretty big though.

mbukfan

I took a tumble on a wet road with tram tracks at a fair speed. I've spoken to a doctor that deals with sport injuries who has estimated around 9months or more for a full recovery but by now I should have most of the strength back so it's safe for me to carry on as normal. Itc is rather disturbing to see part of your rib cage moving in an unatural way though. It also means I wont be doing martial arts for a long time

baccaman21

yes... intercostal cartilege damage is rather painful... I did a 180° forward rolling face plant (over a very small double [going embarrassingly slowly]) a year or so ago and landed my chest on my bars/stem - a few days later I developed what I can only describe as a third breast (well pec really) - which became so bad that it effected my breathing / diaphragm and I couldn't walk more than 10 meters without stopping and catching my breath... I thought I was having a cardiac arrest.... really bad... wouldn't recommend it to anyone...

I was out of action for about 6 months, was told to rest for 9 but got my physio to sort it out...

best thing to do is to take it easy and don't do any lifting.

Go seek a decent physio who can manipulate your arm and shoulder, as over time , if, like me, you find yourself holding your arm/shoulder in a weird position to counter the pain then you'll get further probs with your neck and shoulders... plus a physio will be able to speed your recovery.

mbukfan

Mine didn't really swell. I did manage to get an ice pck o it within a couple of minutes (I fell off on the way to a St John Ambulance training group).
it isn't painful most of the time now anyway.

Thanks for validating the recovery times