Bruised Rib and Training

[zag]

Hi all,

Long time lurker, first time posting - I'm in need of some expert advice.

11 days ago, while loading a monster fresh band on my 110cm speargun, the butt slipped across my sternum and went hard into the left side of my ribs just under my breast. That was at the beginning of the day, and I dove 22 drops, until the contractions hitting the injury gave me a lot of discomfort at depth. I iced it for 3 days after the injury and did not train during that time. On the 4th day, I started doing some apnea walking and light apnea jogging to sretch out for ~ 1-2hrs each day. I had a lot of discomfort on peak inhalation in the upper part of my chest,and still do. I have consistently taken ibuprofen since the injury. On the night of the 4th day, I got an xray just to be safe - no ribs are broken, Dr. ruled a deep bone bruise.

The past Monday, I went spearfishing as the pain seemed to be improving slightlywith each day passing. Did not feel much discomfort, but did not push very hard, cutting bottom times by ~ 20 seconds. On Tuesday and Wed, I went back into the pool for some decently hard training (25, 25m laps on 4 breaths between each lap and then 15 2min15second total 50m delay dynamics where I swim 25m underwater, do a 45-60 sec breathold and then swim the 25 m back). After that Tuesday training, my ribs were hurting quite a bit and I felt some discomfort. Did some apnea walking during the day on Wed, and then went to the pool last night. Felt a lot of discomfort while doing a similar set of trianing as the night before as well as after when I got home to go to sleep.

Question is: should I continue training to stay stretched and in good apnea shape, or is the training delaying my healing time? Anyone have a similar injury that could shine some light for me? My times in the pool are down ~ 15 seconds becasue of the discomfort I am feeling. Sneezing hurts horribly. Coughing is not as bad. Any other supplemets or foods I should be taking to speed recovery? I would really appreciate any advice you guys can give.

Regards,
Zach
Long Island, NY

 

[growingupninja]

I would lay off training for a week. Do some CO2 exercises/tables/whatever you do for two of those days but training while injured can lead to complications. I am a training junky and used to training 'around' injury but you use muscles around your ribs everytime you breathe... I hurt my elbow almost four weeks ago (blunt force trauma), kept diving, training, boxing, etc. Hurt the whole time but was manageable.. Then about 3 weeks ago it started getting progressively worse and I have barely been able to move it for the last two weeks. Went to an ortho guy this morning and he said it was probably a very deep damage to the tendon or muscle, and not bursitis as the doc who took xrays a week ago thought. Anyway good luck with it; if I had just taken it easy for a few weeks after my initial injury I would probably already be better but now I am looking at some weeks of reduced use.

 

[zag]

Thank you for your reply growingupninja. Took the week off more or less since the post, but went diving today. Had 38 drops, some decent times, but now the upper chest is hurting some. Going to go easy this coming week and focus on stretching more than full lung training. I did better today by breathing up without the snorkel in my mouth. It is somewhat cumbersome to then lay flat and invert for the dive after taking the full capacity breath with the head out of the water, but I can fill my lower and upper lungs better this way for now. Hoping more progress in the coming week....

Zach

 

[growingupninja]

Thank you for your reply growingupninja. Took the week off more or less since the post, but went diving today. Had 38 drops, some decent times, but now the upper chest is hurting some. Going to go easy this coming week and focus on stretching more than full lung training. I did better today by breathing up without the snorkel in my mouth. It is somewhat cumbersome to then lay flat and invert for the dive after taking the full capacity breath with the head out of the water, but I can fill my lower and upper lungs better this way for now. Hoping more progress in the coming week....

Zach

Glad to hear.. My elbow is getting slowly better but I am probably at least a week out from being able to load a speargun or deal with a difficult entry/exit although yesterday I could do some pool training. Lost some CO2 tolerance and stamina but as much as I feared.

I would be careful with your rib; the ortho guy who looked at my elbow told me that if a muscle or tendon is damaged but still working (initial injury in my case; pain and swelling but no reduced range of motion), stresses and movements that the healthy tissue would ordinarily be able to handle will, in the damaged state, possibly cause tears or sprains. Which is probably my deal.. Getting old and gonna buy some kind of boat... Screw trudging around o some godforsaken breakwall in the dark!