Popped rib recovery time?

Popped my lower left rib last week. Hurt like hell that night, and made sleeping difficult.

Who has had this injury and how long before I can train/ roll? Phone Post

6 weeks till I could drill, 8 weeks till light roll, 9 weeks and I had pretty much forgotten about going light lol. take glucosamine MSM to help :) Phone Post

GreatCornholio - 

Don't rush it or it'll pop out every time you train and it will be like starting over. Phone Post


it will be worse than starting over if you pop it again. 1-2 months. go very light and only with people you trust when you start rolling again.

Damn that sucks Phone Post

When you start feeling better give it another two weeks. Ribs are the worst because you can feel great, make one little movement and you're back to square 1 again. Don't rush back! Phone Post

I've Popped 2 ribs. One on each side. Depending on which rib you blew will be dependent on your recovery time. If it has been a week of you popping your rib, a chiropractor can manipulate back into place. Don't do what I did and take too long to see treatment. Your body will heal the injury incorrectly (to compensate) thus making your return to mats even longer. Spend the money and find a good chiropractor, trust me it's worth it Phone Post

how did it happen? always love a good injury story! :) Phone Post

It took me 2 months to feel better but not completely heal. I could not breath when it happened. I went crazy because I couldn't do anything without feel some pain.

Hope you heal fast! Phone Post

4-6 weeks minimum to be back training hard. Mine was back in June and it still bugs me when training. Phone Post

IronTigerMMA - took me 5 months and it still hurts every once in a while Phone Post

Same here. I did my cartilage/intercostals, not my actual rib like I thought. Took about 6 months till it was 100% Phone Post

People above are giving you solid advice. I would say about the same given experience.

But if you can see a doctor. To some degree we are all giving you free advice from the cheap seats. A good doctor could add alot....

I done my intercostal in April and still feel it today, especially when I get stacked. I never trained for 5 weeks but since I've come back my style of rolling changed for the better. Phone Post

I popped one on my left side a little over a year ago. It took 4-6 weeks before I felt comfortable enough to roll again. Took 3 months to roll hard

I took a month off, came back early, re-injured it and was out for about 2 or 3 months more. Even after I came back it didn't feel normal for about 3 months more. One of the worst things was sneezing. Every time I sneezed I felt like any healing that happened was back to square one.

4-6 weeks Phone Post



It seems like everyone has a rib injury sooner or later and the majority go back to training too soon and re-injure it.

Done this myself.

It's super easy to re-injure a rib in BJJ.

Take real time off.

 I was out 13 weeks last year from a poped rib.  



Just take your time coming back.  




Thanks for the advice. This especially sucks, as 1) I do the majority of training when my wife is not traveling; she is in town for the next 5 weeks and 2) I'm a 2 stripe brown and my school requires minimum hours for each stripe & this pushes my goal even further out (note: no comment on the hours protocol). 

FYI: I have great insurance, but Drs don't always understand the unique demands of our sport. Moreover, I think the only thing they will likely do is give me is anti inflammatories...and charge the insurance company $500. 

 I separated my floating rib cartilage on the right side and now have a huge knot as a result. It took me 8 weeks to come back and I was paranoid to do any sort of bridging/hip escaping movements with any force for a while after that. It still is uncomfortable in certain positions. 

I tore my intercostal a couple of years ago.. I went to the dr to confirm it. I took a full 4 weeks off then eased back in to training it honestly didnt feel right for about 4 months.. It had a bigger effect on me than when I tore my MCL..