Ohhhh my sternum..help!

**Goju - Joe** · Posted On: 9/22/2007 7:17pm

I went to the Karo Parysian seminar today in Toronto (instead of observing Yom Kippur like a good Jew)

And God punished me by having Karo's 240+ assistant demonstrate to me the proper way to stop a low shoot with a tai otoshi, in which you land on the other person chest. Or in my case right on my fricken sternum.

I am realy sore as hell I don't think I cracked anything (can you crack the sternum?)

I am lathered in Tiger balm and taking motrin.

I am pretty sure there's really nothing to do but does anyone have any advice or thoughts?

On a side note my back ironicly feels pretty good, but maybe thats just the other pain taking over.

**Teh El Macho** · Posted On: 9/22/2007 7:33pm

Duuuuuude!!! Ok, once you let the tiger balm evaporate, ice it. Ice the **** out of it and take Ibuprofen (or some other NSAID) around the clock. If that pain in your sternum is still excrutiating by Monday, go see a doc, just in case.

Better safe than sorry, so go see a doc. But I think icying would do you better than tiger balm or heat.

**bob** · Posted On: 9/22/2007 7:37pm

Originally Posted by Soju - Joe

I went to the Karo Parysian seminar today in Toronto (instead of observing Yom Kippur like a good Jew)

And God punished me by having Karo's 240+ assistant demonstrate to me the proper way to stop a low shoot with a tai otoshi, in which you land on the other person chest. Or in my case right on my fricken sternum.

I am realy sore as hell I don't think I cracked anything (can you crack the sternum?)

I am lathered in Tiger balm and taking motrin.

I am pretty sure there's really nothing to do but does anyone have any advice or thoughts?

On a side note my back ironicly feels pretty good, but maybe thats just the other pain taking over.

It's pretty hard to fracture the sternum but it is possible and when it happens it's usually pretty catastrophic. In the absence of a scan you can try compressing your ribs from the side as hard as you can (probably easier for someone else to do it on you). If this hurts like hell in your sternum - see a doctor, get an XRay and/or CT.

There's other stuff that could be involved like ribs so you need to be pretty precise about where the pain is. If it's in the top 1/2 or 1/3 of the sternum, directly in the middle (not off to the side where the ribs join) it's probably the sternum.

Best treatment for a simple contusion is to avoid repeated impact. Rest from grappling for a week or so and when you get back, protect it. Rugby players sometimes wear special guards like these...

I'm sure NFL or hockey has something similar. Or you can make your own out of high density foam and strap it on for training.

**Goju - Joe** · Posted On: 9/22/2007 8:14pm

I am pretty sure it's just bruised or I would be at the hospital. I have a low tolerance for pain and if I don't move around it doesn't bug me too much

I'll start icing it and see what happens

**AMH** · Posted On: 9/22/2007 8:38pm

I am not saying that the ice, Tiger Balm, and NSAIDs are bad; but if it’s broke than these things wont un-break it.

When I was a teenager I watched too much MTV and X Games. I got into roller bladeing and thought I was the ****. I tried to maneuver a stair case, fell, and broke my sternum. It was the worst fucking pain I have ever felt. I could barely breathe. I went to the ER and they basically told me that there wasn’t a whole lot they could do. Ordered me to bed rest and gave me pain killers.

If your sternum is broke you’ll know it, you wont have to ask.

**Eddie Hardon** · Posted On: 9/24/2007 5:16am

The Sternum is pretty hard to break and it does a brilliant job of linking the ribs to protect the Heart. Being accident-prone, I was once in the passenger seat of a Maruti (Suzuki mini-van) with a mid-mounted engine. The front of the veh, was really the front. At 10PM, one night, and just outside Ajmer (on the edge of the Thar Desert) I noticed something on our side of the road. The headlights weren't too effective and we were being dazzled by the lights of the 10 tonners coming our way. The local driver flashed the headlights to warn the 10 tonners, who ignored us. I was fairly sure now that the "something" was a trailer but there was something hanging off the back of it. BANG!

It was a railway sleeper that smashed straight through the windscreen and run up my body and into my face. It had bounced off my Sternum before it appeared before my eyes. My thought was: "I'm dead".

I won't elaborate further but my point is that my Sternum took the full force of the log. We had been travelling at some speed (not too fast though, India's an, er, interesting country, when hitting the trailer brought us too a sudden stop.

You are probably all right albeit somewhat sore, so hopefully this will help to put your Mind at Rest. Follow Teh El Macho's advice and see how it goes.

Otherwise for muscular aches (no muscle on the Sternum) ice 10mins per 2 hours. Wrap first in damp cloth and apply. If no ice, bag of peas from the freezer, wrapped in damp cloth. Don't keep it on for too long or the body will probably overact and send more blood and everything will 'blow up'. Anti-inflammatories are good.

I also use (phonetic spelling) Jeng Gu Shway, which is also Chinese Trad Med and similar to Tiger Balm but better.

Good Luck.