Cracked Rib Cartilage :(

[EL CORINTHIAN]

So soon into my journey and already I have cracked my rib cartilage (lol) it sucks but I have been humbled before with a history of herniated discs and know not to rush back into training because it will lengthen and derail the healing process. It was basically done during newaza and it was just a bad position where I was In turtle position and basically curled in a ball while the other person was on top of me and his ankle was pressed on my rib and with enough tension, weight and pressure I heard a pop.

I went to the docs and got some x-rays. They said that it was a crack in the cartilage and not the bone.

My question is this. I have read multiple threads on this and am aware of the healing time 4-10 weeks roughly, but what I'm curious about is the severity of this for long term training. I'm having a hard time finding a straight answer where some people say it's not serious at all as long as you let it heal properly. Some people say that even after its healed it's permanently weakened and prone to reinjury which is rather off putting.

Any advice?

 

[QingTian]

What did your doctor say?

Coincidentally I'm on week 2 of the healing process, and it happened much the same way. Feels fine except some "rubbing" that wasn't there before when I bend in that direction.

Went back to training, maybe a bit early, but I was able to make sure nobody pressured the rib. Cherry pick partners.

Not a whole lot of answers here, I know, and unfortunately the literature seems to be mixed as well.

 

[EL CORINTHIAN]

What did your doctor say?

Coincidentally I'm on week 2 of the healing process, and it happened much the same way. Feels fine except some "rubbing" that wasn't there before when I bend in that direction.

Went back to training, maybe a bit early, but I was able to make sure nobody pressured the rib. Cherry pick partners.

Not a whole lot of answers here, I know, and unfortunately the literature seems to be mixed as well.

I have had a lot more pain with herniated discs and I have made full recoveries with it. That was my initial issue. Personally I'm not all that bummed out over it, it's apart of the game, it's just that I have no clue what I should be expecting. Some people say you will make a full recovery but at the same you gotta play it easy for a while. That makes sense but how long really?

 

[IndyCovaHart]

Hooker is dat u

 

[Ride-Fly]

Sorry to hear about your injury. I’ll be interested to read some of the comments because it sounds like an injury I might be suffering from. I know I don’t have cracked ribs, because from what I’ve been told, “you will know you have broken ribs.” But, I know I have something going on because I have had some difficulty taking deep breaths. Plus, I felt some sharp, debilitating pain when my back was at an odd angle while getting out of bed.

My injury happened during judo training, when I was thrown with an ankle sweep and landed full force on my back/side at the lat muscle, twice. I am pretty sure my Tori didn’t break-fall my landing. I got the wind knocked out of me.

 

[CrazyN8]

I cracked my rib cartilage a few years ago, no rolling for about 2 months after but now, besides a nice lump on my ribs, its fine. Bothers me more when im playing guitar than rolling.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

I cracked my rib cartilage a few years ago, no rolling for about 2 months after but now, besides a nice lump on my ribs, its fine. Bothers me more when im playing guitar than rolling.

Same thing. I waited longer though, like maybe 4 months before rolling hard.

I have the rib lump and it is a bit uncomfortable when on my stomach.

Sometimes the area feels a bit weird.

@ts : no in my case it has not compromised my LT training,but I was very careful not to return too soon.

The grappler's rib is a rite of passage. Feel honoured and be patient and you will be fine

 

[Ride-Fly]

Same thing. I waited longer though, like maybe 4 months before rolling hard.

I have the rib lump and it is a bit uncomfortable when on my stomach.

Sometimes the area feels a bit weird.

@ts : no in my case it has not compromised my LT training,but I was very careful not to return too soon.

The grappler's rib is a rite of passage. Feel honoured and be patient and you will be fine

Hmmm, maybe my injury isn’t as serious this, as I think I can still roll. My injury happened last Tuesday and haven’t trained since, due to a work trip from Wednesday to Saturday. I plan on going to BJJ on tomorrow (Monday.)

Maybe I’ve got a bruised or stretched rib cartilage issue. Anyhow, thanks bubbas for helping me realize I’m not too seriously injured where I can’t train.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

Hmmm, maybe my injury isn’t as serious this, as I think I can still roll. My injury happened last Tuesday and haven’t trained since, due to a work trip from Wednesday to Saturday. I plan on going to BJJ on tomorrow (Monday.)

Maybe I’ve got a bruised or stretched rib cartilage issue. Anyhow, thanks bubbas for helping me realize I’m not too seriously injured where I can’t train.

I can assure you that if you had what i had, training one week after would be the last thing on your mind ;-)

 

[EL CORINTHIAN]

I can assure you that if you had what i had, training one week after would be the last thing on your mind ;-)

Yea there is absolutely no way I could even sneeze with out dying.

 

[Nnedd]

Dude, take some time off

I have had recurring rib issues, and my advice is to seek help and have rest

I have suffered ribs coming out in competition twice and in training three times that I can remember off the top of my head.

Twice, it's been moves I've done. Once while I was clock choking a guy, and once in the middle of a flower sweep

I have just come off of two months without rolling, doing physical therapy regularly, and I feel good, but I can still tell that my ribs are there

Physical therapy helped me make progress, and so did rest, but I know I won't be the same

My advice to you is to take rest, and if you think you've rested enough, rest more. And seek the help of professionals who will assist you in changing your body to improve your chances or recurring injury

I'm sure my age is an issue, and my neck is all fucked up which contributes to rib injury. But from my experience, take this seriously, be cautious, and seek outside help to prevent further problems.

 

[Nnedd]

Yeah, I just read some more in this thread

If you are training a week after hurting your rib, this isn't for you

Bad rib injuries hurt all the time. Sneezing, laughing, coughing, getting in your car, looking at the moon, jerking off, eating gyros, farting, spitting on the grave of our worst enemy....all of those things are excruciating if your rib is truly subluxated or badly bruised or cracked or broken.

 

[Vitamin C]

I subluxed a rib early in my training. Took probably near 6 months to get back to rolling normal speed, primarily because I would wait 2 weeks, feel a little better, roll, reinjure it, repeat.
I can still point to which rib subluxed because if I suck in the gut you can see its slightly forward of the rest.
It has provided me with a wonderful source of upper back pain in the form of an intense knot right at my spine. This also plays havok on the muscles in my neck, causing occasional tension headaches so severe I'll be awake until 2am with it until I vomit and pass out from the exhaustion and relief. Took me a while to connect the dots between the two, but regular massage and stretching of that knot and the headaches all but disappeared.
I can always still feel it, especially carrying heavy backpacks and the like.

 

[EL CORINTHIAN]

Dude, take some time off

I have had recurring rib issues, and my advice is to seek help and have rest

I have suffered ribs coming out in competition twice and in training three times that I can remember off the top of my head.

Twice, it's been moves I've done. Once while I was clock choking a guy, and once in the middle of a flower sweep

I have just come off of two months without rolling, doing physical therapy regularly, and I feel good, but I can still tell that my ribs are there

Physical therapy helped me make progress, and so did rest, but I know I won't be the same

My advice to you is to take rest, and if you think you've rested enough, rest more. And seek the help of professionals who will assist you in changing your body to improve your chances or recurring injury

I'm sure my age is an issue, and my neck is all fucked up which contributes to rib injury. But from my experience, take this seriously, be cautious, and seek outside help to prevent further problems.

Yea I have no plans on returning to judo for Atleast 2 months. Again I have a history of herniated discs in my lower lumbar which in my opinion is way worse than this and I'm using the same protocol I always use for that.

Week 1: pretty much stay bed ridden
Weeks 2-3: when the general pain subsides start taking small but more frequent walks
Week 4-7: Introduce very light weightlifting that doesn't cause pain and stretching
Week 8: back to judo with light randori until I feel like I can go 100%

Bad rib injuries hurt all the time. Sneezing, laughing, coughing, getting in your car, looking at the moon, jerking off, eating gyros, farting, spitting on the grave of our worst enemy..

 

[Vitamin C]

Delicious

 

[EL CORINTHIAN]

Delicious

There is only one way to eat a gyros......and that's dynamically.

No gyro eating for 12 weeks just to be safe.

 

[ShindoNinja]

So soon into my journey and already I have cracked my rib cartilage (lol) it sucks but I have been humbled before with a history of herniated discs and know not to rush back into training because it will lengthen and derail the healing process. It was basically done during newaza and it was just a bad position where I was In turtle position and basically curled in a ball while the other person was on top of me and his ankle was pressed on my rib and with enough tension, weight and pressure I heard a pop.

I went to the docs and got some x-rays. They said that it was a crack in the cartilage and not the bone.

My question is this. I have read multiple threads on this and am aware of the healing time 4-10 weeks roughly, but what I'm curious about is the severity of this for long term training. I'm having a hard time finding a straight answer where some people say it's not serious at all as long as you let it heal properly. Some people say that even after its healed it's permanently weakened and prone to reinjury which is rather off putting.

Any advice?

I popped a floating rib right before I got my blue belt. The day before actually. I had to do a full 4 rounds of fighting in my test at the Roy Dean Academy. That shit hurt. It took me aout 4 -6 weeks after that to get back into action and it was tender. I wore a nike honeycomb padded under shirt for the next month of training. That was 2011 and I'm a brown belt now. I don't feel it at all, I just have a weird bump there (which most grapplers seem to have)

 

[Ride-Fly]

Hey OP, hope you’re doing better. Got a question for ya- was the radiologist able to see the cracked cartilage on the first go, or did they have to take a closer review or even take a 2nd set of X-Rays? Also hope you don’t mind that I update y’all on my issue, especially since I can’t start posts for awhile.

I was experiencing pretty good pain when I trained, so I got x-rays today and fortunately I don’t have any cracks anywhere. But the doc said I have a teres strain/tear based on the location & movement which causes pain. Never heard of that. I’m gonna give myself 3 weeks off and hit it on January 7th. As luck would have it, I am on 3 back-to-back work trips starting on 22Dec18 to 01Jan19, then a family weekend trip to SD 03-05Jan. Hope it’s a long enough break.

 

[mattemate]

Don't listen to these pussies. Back on the mats.

 

[fishNjits]

So intercostal tears (known to doctors locally in Iowa as "wrestlers' rib).

I've had two, one on each side. Both times, it felt as if one rib was folding under another.

The first was on my right side, got twisted and felt "pop, pop, pop." Pain was intense, but I didn't know what it was and tried to keep going after a slight break. Big Mistake. I waited five weeks until there was no pain during acts of daily living and I could sleep on that side. After five weeks, I waited another two weeks before going back, and then just drilled for a week. A rib on that side juts out a little (I can feel it but not really see it). Haven't reinjured it (kein ein hora).

The second was on my left side trying to do a Sao Paulo pass, so again, a bit twisted. The "pop" was so loud, our professor heard it clear across the mat, and I knew what happened immediately. It took two weeks for all pain to subside during acts of daily living, stayed out another week, and then just drilled for a week. No recurrences (kein ein hora), no lump.