Intercostal muscle tear?

[HOW5ER]

Docs don't give me much info other than nothing shows up on the x ray so must be muscle damage, Anyways this happened 5 weeks ago rolling and I've just attempted to get back on the mat....Big mistake! I now feel like I've got a razor blade lodged under my left rib.

I was rolling with a strong dude, I was in turtle he had a guillotine grip round my neck but he was sprawled, I tried to roll back to retain guard and he held onto my neck, I felt a big pop from my lower ribs then the worst pain I've felt in my 34 years alive, I couldn't walk, sit or breath without the pain, I was on 5 pain meds and it didn't touch the agony, I had some time off work and I've been laid up a fair bit.

Has anyone ever had an injury like this before? Any advise?

 

[Twon]

You just have to let it heal. I'm currently letting a hip flexor tear heal. I know it sucks, but if you don't let it fully heal, it will just cause you grief down the road. I've decided to do physio just to make sure mine is healing right (and completely). I'm glad I did. I've already noticed a difference from just a couple of sessions. Maybe give it a try.

 

[milliniar]

sounds worse than mine was.
I was out 4 weeks, but probably should've took more off of training.

 

[sixfifteen]

You may have torn some of the supporting cartilage or dislocated it. I did and yes, that was extremely painful. My instructor dislocated a rib years ago and still can't roll with bigger students. I'd recommend seeing a sports medicine doc as opposed to a regular orthopod as he would be more in tune with what you're wanting.

 

[71Fish]

I've had intercostal tears/damage on both sides. The best thing is rest, but not too much. Get back into light rolling as soon as you can. If it hurts, don't move that way, lol.

Doing a little something is better than a lot of nothing.

 

[Kaldog]

I tore the intercostals on my floating rib, hurt like hell, especially when I sneezed. You have to take into consideration there is very little blood flow to the intercostals therefor recovery takes longer. 6-8 weeks I was off. I used kinesiology tape and that made a little bit of improvement

 

[Coati858]

I've done this twice now, but not to the extent of what happened to the OP. Both times it's been nearly painless after 48 hours unless I lightly press on the spot or twist/lie the wrong way or clench core muscles ... or someone big is on top of me.

First time was in June (I started BJJ in June) and I tried to twist my trunk away when the other guy had my arm and -pop- yowch. I took it easy but did not take a lot of time off. It might just have been a week or two off, don't recall, but it really wasn't back to 100% until September.

The second time was last Saturday and again, other guy had my arm, going for arm bar and I was pulling away with both arms to free bent elbow and -pop- yowch. The good news is I was pain-free enough before that that I can't even remember if it was the same side/spot as the first time.

I just watched class on Monday. Might try non-rolling/drill-only beginner class Friday night and see how it goes.

At some point I hope I'll learn it's not good for 49-year-olds to try to out-muscle a bad situation against bigger/stronger people and just tap/reset when rolling to work on not getting there in the first place.

 

[Codger]

I did one a couple of years ago. Pain was horrific. I barely made it home and crawled from the car to the house. I took ibuprofen for a month and left it another.month before coming back. Totally healed now. Sounds like you rushed coming back. We all.do it

 

[NateTx4112]

Yup. Whenever you feel like it's healed and can roll, take another 2 weeks off. Then start drilling SLOWLY and working with safe partners.

Came back to early from both times and it added months (yes months) to getting back up to full speed.

 

[karma2burn]

Yup. Whenever you feel like it's healed and can roll, take another 2 weeks off. Then start drilling SLOWLY and working with safe partners.

Came back to early from both times and it added months (yes months) to getting back up to full speed.

Same thing happened to me. First time I tore some intercostals trying to bridge out of mount. I sat out a month and went back as soon as I didn't feel any pain. 30 seconds into the warmup on my first day back, did a shrimp and bam, twice as bad as the first time. Had to sit out another 8 weeks to let it fully heal.

The worst intercostal injury I had was prior to starting bjj. I started to learn how to play golf and dove into it with too much enthusiasm. Was going to the range every night and after a while I started to feel pain but like a moron I kept going until one day I took a swing and it was instant brutal pain that left me almost unable to move. That injury took over 8 months to fully heal.

These types of injuries are no joke and best to take extra precaution coming back.

 

[peregrine]

Most seasoned grapplers have had some major injury. Pulled ribs and cartilage are likely near the top.

I pulled a rib going in for a fireman, I failed to get him leaning over, I fought his whole hip sprawl, and gravity against my rib. Took about 6months till I rolled again safely. Took about 3mo off went back but reinjured. So it took another 3to5mo. Initially it was out for a day or so till I stretched and it popped back in much to my pain relief.

My suggestion is let it rest. You can massage the area to increase blood flow and possibly recovery. It is also to find alternative exercise. You can likely light positional roll in 2to3mo. It is also to do cardio.

 

[HtomSirveaux]

I've had that happen. I like to sit up for bumps etc in closed guard, strong guy had really low belt grips and I was just trying to sit up through them and brute force my way to an over the shoulder grip. Felt a pop, and bam, out for a month or two.

 

[CrashStitches]

Docs don't give me much info other than nothing shows up on the x ray so must be muscle damage, Anyways this happened 5 weeks ago rolling and I've just attempted to get back on the mat....Big mistake! I now feel like I've got a razor blade lodged under my left rib.

I was rolling with a strong dude, I was in turtle he had a guillotine grip round my neck but he was sprawled, I tried to roll back to retain guard and he held onto my neck, I felt a big pop from my lower ribs then the worst pain I've felt in my 34 years alive, I couldn't walk, sit or breath without the pain, I was on 5 pain meds and it didn't touch the agony, I had some time off work and I've been laid up a fair bit.

Has anyone ever had an injury like this before? Any advise?

Man, I'm on the shelf for a very similar rib pop. Just over two weeks and I'm not close to returning to the mat yet. Very little you can do besides chill on it until it's damn good and ready, otherwise you risk further injury...and you don't want it to hurt worse than it did this time. Bite the bullet, tell your gym you're not paying for November, and just enjoy the view for a while.