Recovery from lingering minor rib injury - how long.

geebusuk

Trying to work out when I can start doing workouts again.

While doing barbell squats around the 18th June I felt some pain. My weights belt is a bit too big for my sticky-out rib cage/hip bones, so I thought it'd just dug in.

Carried on and went on to a hit a new dead lift 5rm at the end of the session. Quite a bit of pain the next day, much better the day after so I did a light session. Which was a mistake it turned out.

I've not done anything serious since then - apart at Glastonbury - some pull ups, a tomato fight, a bit of Moshing to Mettalica and a while later half an hour loading hay bales on a farm.

I rarely feel any pain day to day and while initially I couldn't sleep on that side, I can now. I don't notice it's there unless I poke it in the right place, which gives a mild pain.

I don't want to make it worse, but also I want to reverse my belt seeming to get a little tighter, despite my weight staying fairly constant.

DavPul

You realize that at no point in your OP did you ask an actual question, right?

And even if you did, we really can't diagnose you over the Internet or predict the healing rate of this injury that you haven't properly described to us.

So use common sense, avoid pain causing activities for awhile, and seek medical advice if it persists or worsens. You know, the usual.

geebusuk

Sorry - should have made that first line clearer.

I'm trying to work out when I can start doing workouts again - and it'd be nice to hear from people with similar experiences and so on.

The rib injury could be a cracked rib, intercostal pull or similar.
It's rare people get diagnosed past "your rib hurts, give it some rest" it seems. I went to the doctor's the other day and got that. So I don't know exactly what it is and likely people who have experience of similar probably won't either.

HOWEVER, people that may have more specialist sports-medical-professionals to advice them may well have got more knowledgeable and detailed advice from a similar injury to mine such as "start back with lower weights after 4 weeks" say.

sunglasses_and_ocean_waves

You realize that at no point in your OP did you ask an actual question, right?

And even if you did, we really can't diagnose you over the Internet or predict the healing rate of this injury that you haven't properly described to us.

So use common sense, avoid pain causing activities for awhile, and seek medical advice if it persists or worsens. You know, the usual.

This. Ask the doc.

h7463

Trying to work out when I can start doing workouts again.

While doing barbell squats around the 18th June I felt some pain. My weights belt is a bit too big for my sticky-out rib cage/hip bones, so I thought it'd just dug in.

Carried on and went on to a hit a new dead lift 5rm at the end of the session. Quite a bit of pain the next day, much better the day after so I did a light session. Which was a mistake it turned out.

I've not done anything serious since then - apart at Glastonbury - some pull ups, a tomato fight, a bit of Moshing to Mettalica and a while later half an hour loading hay bales on a farm.

I rarely feel any pain day to day and while initially I couldn't sleep on that side, I can now. I don't notice it's there unless I poke it in the right place, which gives a mild pain.

I don't want to make it worse, but also I want to reverse my belt seeming to get a little tighter, despite my weight staying fairly constant.

Hi there!

I'm right there with the posters who suggest that you seek advise from a health care professional. Out of personal experience, there is no set time for recovery on any injuries. No matter what, my bits and pieces seem to need 6 months to heal....

Your biggest problem, however is in the 3. sentence of your opening post. Ditch the belt. Recover and rehabilitate your body properly, and start from scratch with proper form, and without ill-fitting gear. Who cares how many plates you put on the bar, anyway! Play it safe!

Get well soon!

geebusuk

Cheers for the thoughts.

Note that I did go to the Doctor and didn't get particularly useful advice. Much as the NHS is 'nice' compared to some systems, they often only look to do the minimum required, so I won't get anything useful without spending a chunk of cash with a sport medical professional.

The belt allows me to work my abs considerably more. I suspect the issue was breathing rather than body position - something that hadn't caused me a problem previously, but it seems can cause this sort of thing if not quite right.

I may get a narrower belt anyway (I had actually done my research and the consensus was not to go narrow, but I do have a reasonably large bone structure.). I'm sure that it wasn't caused by the way the belt would occasionally stick in to ribs/hips - that was just a case of a little bit of pinched skin or similar.

h7463

Cheers for the thoughts.

Note that I did go to the Doctor and didn't get particularly useful advice. Much as the NHS is 'nice' compared to some systems, they often only look to do the minimum required, so I won't get anything useful without spending a chunk of cash with a sport medical professional.

The belt allows me to work my abs considerably more. I suspect the issue was breathing rather than body position - something that hadn't caused me a problem previously, but it seems can cause this sort of thing if not quite right.

I may get a narrower belt anyway (I had actually done my research and the consensus was not to go narrow, but I do have a reasonably large bone structure.). I'm sure that it wasn't caused by the way the belt would occasionally stick in to ribs/hips - that was just a case of a little bit of pinched skin or similar.

I understand your frustration about doctors. I'm getting into debates with mine quite frequently. See an experienced physical therapist, who might be able to give you useful exercises to help rehab your injury.

Maybe I misunderstood your post, but you might not be completely informed about how a belt works. There is no way around core training in the first place. A tight core/engaged abs, combined with correct breathing and proper form will protect your back. The belt gives a strong core something to brace against and keep your back straight under extremely heavy load. A belt can never make up for missing core strength or sloppy form. You may not have been aware of it at the time, but your badly fitting belt might have contributed to your misery, just because you compromised form in order to avoid discomfort. Start over as rehab, strengthen your core with a purpose! You might just be able to exceed your personal best in the future!

Train safe!