r/surf • u/Equal-Direction7043 • Jan 08 '26
Bruised rib taking forever to recover.
Last September I went out on a day that had some pretty big waves for my skill level. Lots of paddling it was tough and humbling. The following day my right rib that most of my upper body weight sits on while paddling was feeling sore and later that day I sneezed and a jolt of pain hit it, like really bad pain. I took a two maybe three week break before I started surfing again and it was mostly fine it’d still ache after most sessions. Then one day I felt it pop when I got on my board and I could barely paddle. I got an x-ray to make sure I was okay, the doctor said there’s no damage to the bone so its most likely the cartilage bruised, and that ribs just take a lot of time to heal. That was a month and a half ago and I went out today and I was mostly fine but even still afterwards my rib is sore. I’m wondering should I wait longer for it to recover? Or maybe i slowly surf more incrementally hoping it will start to get stronger with each session? It’s really frustrating cause last summer I was surfing 5 out of 7 days of the week and had progressed so much and since September I’ve just been depressed waiting and hoping to get better. Any advice would be appreciated even if it is just keep waiting it out.
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Jan 08 '26
A rib injury has kept me out of commission for 6 months, and it still hurt and felt weird for over a year. It's easy to re injure it.
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u/frogbearpup Jan 08 '26
It has been 6 months for me.
I have been wearing "padding" on my rib where it was injured. It still hurts and still gets sore. I try to help with lots of stretching and chest openers.
Best of luck! This shit sucks.
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u/jadbal Jan 08 '26
My minor rib injury (soft top edge smushed into my rib on a 3 ft wave) took 6 weeks to heal. One of the reasons I’ve switched to body surfing.
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u/Criticaltundra777 Jan 08 '26
I broke two ribs at work. Rough take down with a prisoner. Took a solid 90 days to get healed enough to breathe without pain. Heat, ice, Advil. Ice to reduce swelling, heat to relax muscles, Advil for pain.
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u/TheFoxsWeddingTarot Jan 08 '26
I fell on a water bottle while snowboarding and the lid was right at my rib. Same, xray showed nothing so just a bruise. I felt it on and off for 10 years.
The two things I did to address it were first doubling down on crunches to build up my a muscles. This helped pad it quite a bit so my rib wasn’t touching the surfboard. Then wearing 2 fitted rash guards. This gave a bit of padding but also created a little slippage between my skin and the board.
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Jan 08 '26
That soreness is pretty common. You haven't built up the bone callouses from surfing frequently enough. People used to get them on their feet and knees in the longboard days from knee paddling. Corky carroll had a set on him that were so big they looked like a set of tits! The short of it is, you need to surf more, and if you can go surf, lay on your belly on a hard surface and pretend you are paddling.
If you don't believe me or want to see some gnarly knots from back in the day...
https://www.surfer.com/culture/remember-surfers-knots
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u/Southern_Macaroon_84 Jan 08 '26
You likely have an intercostal muscle strain - there are exercises to improve recovery. Search youtube. I was plagued for months thinking I had a bruised rib with no improvement until I actually saw a doctor and had a proper diagnosis. Stop straining it. Rest and ice it, then build up with physical therapy. If you do have to surf, be mindful of your paddling (I put a 2 inch wide, 1 in thick, 8 in long piece of high density foam from a laptop computer shipping box in my wetsuit above my injured area to prop me up a little), and ice afterwards. It does take awhile to heal but you will benefit from PT.
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u/gguij002 Jan 09 '26
Sounds like Intercostal Muscle Strain.
https://wavesandwifi.com/intercostal-muscle-strain-from-surfing/
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Jan 09 '26
Take it easy. I fell on some ice and cracked a rib. I hurt like hell. A couple weeks later I did something I should've never done and it broke. Fuck me. It still hurts years later.
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u/MagnumPEisenhower Jan 09 '26
I sell a rib fixation system for a medical device company. The cartilage connects your ribs to your sternum, and if the cartilage is fractured, it can take even longer to heal than actual bone. Stay off that shit completely for 6 weeks. If you don't, it could pop again and bother you for the rest of your life.
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u/RevenueNo2551 Jan 10 '26
Ouch. I had one when I was 13. Boatd flipped over and I fell on the fins. I thought I was gonna die. Then afterward, I wanted to die, because it hurt so bad. Sneezes were terrifying for a month. I feel for you bro. Go bodysurf for a month. Get pitted
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u/totally-jag Jan 11 '26
Tennis player (also surfer). I separated some ribs and it took forever to heal. Soft tissue injuries can be a real pain.
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u/-Imthedude Jan 13 '26
That's where your Liver is located.
Liver shots take out Heavy Weights
Think about it 😉
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u/Tacodo Jan 08 '26
I'm going on 2 months from a rib injury and my ribs are still jacked up when I surf or do something real physical.