Rib Crunch Question

**tyciol** · Posted On: 10/04/2008 3:53pm

I wish there were easy obvious ways to strengthen that area. For extremity bones like the femur you can just say 'okay squat' but like, the ribs are really odd, like I know heavy movements stresses the core muscles so it probably stresses the core bones a bit too, but can they get stronger? The ribs are even somewhat pliable to allow breathing so does that mean they don't get as strong as the more rigid bones?

**Epicurus** · Posted On: 10/16/2008 11:57pm

I had a pretty serious rib injury once and mine definitely got worse up until the sixth day or so. Then, thanks to lots of lying still and advil, I started to see some recovery. It was very slow, and to this day, I still know that spot n my ribcage every time someone takes side control or mount on me.

**tadams** · Posted On: 10/17/2008 10:08am

I hope your recovery goes well and as quickly as possible. I'm on day 11 of recovering from a rib injury (only in this case I'm the newbie and I only got two classes in before the damage). Everyday I hope that there is some sort of miraculous 'all better' scenario but there is still deep breathing pain and I can't sleep on that side. Also, every time I cough I seem to really strain the surrounding muscles and the pain gets worse for a day :( I'm glad I don't have a chest cold.

You may want to try some slow and mild stretching of the area every day. I find that the area gets tight and then explodes in pain if I sneeze or other sudden movement. A slow stretch relaxes the area and makes breathing more comfortable for a few hours.

Good luck!

**Epicurus** · Posted On: 10/17/2008 10:33am

Originally Posted by tadams

I hope your recovery goes well and as quickly as possible. I'm on day 11 of recovering from a rib injury (only in this case I'm the newbie and I only got two classes in before the damage). Everyday I hope that there is some sort of miraculous 'all better' scenario but there is still deep breathing pain and I can't sleep on that side. Also, every time I cough I seem to really strain the surrounding muscles and the pain gets worse for a day :( I'm glad I don't have a chest cold.

Ha ha, that's exactly how many BJJ classes I took before I got my rib cracked too.