Helping A Hairline Fractured Rib Heal ?

[orang37]

Sawasdee Khrup,

Being given a choice of death or falling off my bicycle (again), by a motorcyclist coming straight at me on the wrong side of the road, I had no choice to fall to the to the right since he clearly was going to stay on the far left side of the road next to the sidewalk ... and he was coming at high speed, and I had no opportunity to sharply veer to the right and get out of the way because of traffic going by me on the right. Lucky I was not hit by a car after I fell. Said motorcyclist, of course, kept on his merry way on his honking big bike (more than 500 cc ?).

Result: one hairline fracture of right rib number seven, bruised right elbow. Surprisingly little pain. GP says no need to tape my chest up. GP says calcium, lots of it, and a little magnesium can't hurt. GP says 4-6 weeks and it will naturally heal unless I do something really crazy.

After 24 hours and a few ice-packs, almost no swelling. Pain only when I sneeze Did a pretty high intensity 10km. bike ride last night with no aching rib results.

My age is 67, by the way, and I live on a mainly soy-milk diet with whole milk powder added in for complete protein benefits, and some soft food (have problems swallowing related to results of chemo and radiation for cancer of the tongue). More protein from raw egg, and sometimes I make my own chicken-liver pate. Don't smoke, don't drink, don't do drugs, etc. Bicycle usually at least 10km. per day, swim, do yoga, and tai chi, etc.

My physical consultant/trainer for working out (cardio, and resistance exercise for strength... machines, not free weights) recommends I add in a combination of arginine, orthonine, and lysine to my recovery plan ... not for building muscle (the usual use) ... but for being precursors to HGH, and hopefully, by producing a little more HGH, promote bone-healing.

Be curious to hear any other ideas you might have about what might promote bone healing.

Or, what you might do, or not do given this kind of hairline fracture (bench-presses are clearly out: dam_n: I was working on tightening up my old man's slightly drooping pectorals).

Now that 48 hours have passed, will do heat packs two or three times a day, but not really sure that will be beneficial.

thanks !

~o:37;

Edited December 27, 2010 by orang37

[Thaddeus]

Don't laugh, don't cough and don't sneeze, break wind carefully ..... I would forego any form of physical exercise for a few weeks, even breathing heavy will put some pressure where you don't want it.

[sarahsbloke]

Tramadol Hydrochloride for the pain ........ 1 tablet lasts 8 hours

30bht for a pack of 10 from any pharmacy

(I am also suffering from the same problem, but with extreme pain!)

[Sheryl]

Your GP is correct...4-6 weeks and it will heal, and pretty much nothing you can do will speed that up.

Calcium a good idea, and some vit C wouldn't hurt, but fundamentally it is just a matter of time.

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

Bones that have good blood supply will almost always heal faster than bones with less blood supply.

Increase the blood supply to a given area and the healing is quicker as more osteoblasts can be delivered to the injury site and form new bone matrix.

Increasing blood supply can be done a number of ways

Alternating heat or cold applications

Aerobic activity

T.E.N.S. stimulation devices

Acupuncture

Ultra sound

Special magnets

Basic nutrient dense healthy balanced diet. avoid sources of smoke, anti inflammatory drugs like aspirin. alcohol, caffeine etc.

Deep sleep

Many athletes use visualization techniques of physical repair taking place in the injured area. Some like to visualize miniature workers etc. It sounds like hippy yoga beads type of hooey but a lot of athletes swear it really speeds healing. Perhaps it mobilizes the placebo effect.

[orang37]

Tramadol Hydrochloride for the pain ........ 1 tablet lasts 8 hours

30bht for a pack of 10 from any pharmacy

(I am also suffering from the same problem, but with extreme pain!)

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun SarahsBloke,

Sorry to hear you are in pain ! At this point I'm in no significant pain. Went swimming tonight in very cold outdoor pool, and was surprised to find that induced immediate chest-rib trauma area pain, but ten minutes in the cold water, swimming gently, and it went away. And a real hot shower felt so good on the rib area afterward.

take care, ~o:37;

[orang37]

Bones that have good blood supply will almost always heal faster than bones with less blood supply.

Increase the blood supply to a given area and the healing is quicker as more osteoblasts can be delivered to the injury site and form new bone matrix.

Increasing blood supply can be done a number of ways

Alternating heat or cold applications

Aerobic activity

T.E.N.S. stimulation devices

Acupuncture

Ultra sound

Special magnets

Basic nutrient dense healthy balanced diet. avoid sources of smoke, anti inflammatory drugs like aspirin. alcohol, caffeine etc.

Deep sleep

Many athletes use visualization techniques of physical repair taking place in the injured area. Some like to visualize miniature workers etc. It sounds like hippy yoga beads type of hooey but a lot of athletes swear it really speeds healing. Perhaps it mobilizes the placebo effect.

Sawasdee Khup, Khun CobraSnakeNeckTie,

Thanks for your many thoughtful suggestions ! I've always loved alternating between swimming in ice cold water, or being in a cold plunge, followed by red hot saunas, usually after (when much younger than I am now) a heavy cardio work-out, followed by weight-lifting: to me the result of all that is an incredible mental state of clear energy, and physical "loosey-goosiness." And using ice-packs, or heat packs, has long been a part of my home-medicine kit.

One question: when you wrote: "anti inflammatory drugs like aspirin, alcohol, caffeine, etc.," I found that a bit confusing. I think of caffeine as a stimulant, and therefore inflammatory: I do, like so many, take a tiny dose of aspirin per day for heart disease prevention, but always considered aspirin an anti-inflammatory: never use alcohol (my body seems almost "allergic" to it), and never smoke anything. I've never thought about whether alcohol is "inflammatory."

I was surprised when I did some research on the web to find HGH implicated in bone-healing, but really wonder if that would apply to a 67 year old male body, nor am I sure if such a 67 year old male body could use the recommended Arg, Lys, and Ortho as effective precursors to actually manufacture HGH.

Looks like I'll have no problem maintaining aerobic level workouts on the bicycle or treadmill.

I do have a problem with insomnia, but am dealing with that, but note that my sleep has not so far been disturbed by any pain in the rib area impacted.

I am very open to the idea of visualisation being effective in promoting healing from the "psychological side." And for me, "placebo" is not a "dirty word"

All in all, I think I got "off easy" on this one (famous last words).

best, ~o:37;

,

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

Bones that have good blood supply will almost always heal faster than bones with less blood supply.

Increase the blood supply to a given area and the healing is quicker as more osteoblasts can be delivered to the injury site and form new bone matrix.

Increasing blood supply can be done a number of ways

Alternating heat or cold applications

Aerobic activity

T.E.N.S. stimulation devices

Acupuncture

Ultra sound

Special magnets

Basic nutrient dense healthy balanced diet. avoid sources of smoke, anti inflammatory drugs like aspirin. alcohol, caffeine etc.

Deep sleep

Many athletes use visualization techniques of physical repair taking place in the injured area. Some like to visualize miniature workers etc. It sounds like hippy yoga beads type of hooey but a lot of athletes swear it really speeds healing. Perhaps it mobilizes the placebo effect.

Sawasdee Khup, Khun CobraSnakeNeckTie,

Thanks for your many thoughtful suggestions ! I've always loved alternating between swimming in ice cold water, or being in a cold plunge, followed by red hot saunas, usually after (when much younger than I am now) a heavy cardio work-out, followed by weight-lifting: to me the result of all that is an incredible mental state of clear energy, and physical "loosey-goosiness." And using ice-packs, or heat packs, has long been a part of my home-medicine kit.

One question: when you wrote: "anti inflammatory drugs like aspirin, alcohol, caffeine, etc.," I found that a bit confusing. I think of caffeine as a stimulant, and therefore inflammatory: I do, like so many, take a tiny dose of aspirin per day for heart disease prevention, but always considered aspirin an anti-inflammatory: never use alcohol (my body seems almost "allergic" to it), and never smoke anything. I've never thought about whether alcohol is "inflammatory."

I was surprised when I did some research on the web to find HGH implicated in bone-healing, but really wonder if that would apply to a 67 year old male body, nor am I sure if such a 67 year old male body could use the recommended Arg, Lys, and Ortho as effective precursors to actually manufacture HGH.

Looks like I'll have no problem maintaining aerobic level workouts on the bicycle or treadmill.

I do have a problem with insomnia, but am dealing with that, but note that my sleep has not so far been disturbed by any pain in the rib area impacted.

I am very open to the idea of visualisation being effective in promoting healing from the "psychological side." And for me, "placebo" is not a "dirty word"

All in all, I think I got "off easy" on this one (famous last words).

best, ~o:37;

,

I had a run on sentence.... typing fast. aspirin is supposed to be anti inflammatory which would impede repair and caffeine, alcohol and other stimulants would use up resources like vitamins and minerals. Actually not sure why caffeine is not thought to be healing. Could be that some critical hormones are created in the adrenal cortex and caffeine is taxing on them.

HGH, IGF-1, DHEA and incidentally testosterone are very beneficial for bone growth.

This is a good article on producing HGH naturally with some basic supplements and lifestyle tips.

Hope it's helpful

Natural HGH

[orang37]

Sawasdee Khrup,

For those of you interested in bone healing technique from the "Chinese traditional medicine" point of view, we quote these suggestions send by a farang friend with extensive experience in Thai martial arts, and Chinese medicine:

"Immobilize. don't stress affected bone/attached ligaments.

general health practice promotes healing- good diet, sleep, exercise as possible

bone soup: boil 2 lbs of bones for 2 to 4 hours with ginger. strain and use stock for daily soup .

acupuncture, moxibustion and chinese herbs as prescribed by good TCM doctor

several good over the counter Chinese kung <deleted> pills, plasters and linaments:

1. Jin Gu Die Shang Wan (muscles and bone traumatic injury pill)

2. Die Da Zhi Tong Gao (Traumatic injury stop pain plaster)

3. Die Da Yao Jing (traumatic injury medicine-essense)

4. Zheng Gu Shui (mending bone water),

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-zheng-gu-shui-liniment.htm

Available at Chip An Song dispensary on Chang Moi Rd." [Chiang Mai]

best, ~o:37

[Moonrakers]

I had my ribs broken during the tsunami.

It took a good couple of years before they were healed, but then it was more than just a hairline fracture for me. One misplaced bump or even a night of sleeping awkwardly would set me back. As already said there is little that can be done.

Fully recovered now (I hope)