How Long Will It Take To Recover From A Rib Injury

Thank you for joining us for today’s livestream where we talked about rib joint and upper back pain. Rib joint pain can give you some quite disconcerting pain, so we’ll explain what that could be as well as some tips to help. When the rib joints become irritated, it can give you sharp pain that often seems like it’s coming from the chest, although it can affect the front or back of the body. The ribs are joints with synovial fluid. On the back they attach to the thoracic spine, that are more flexible. On the front, they connect to cartilaginous structures.

Our rib cage needs flexibility to move to help you breathe. If you injure the joints through a trauma, you’re going to know this has happened and unfortunately there’s not a lot that can be done. It takes time but they will heal on their own. If you spend a lot of time hunched over, you’re stretching the ligaments and muscles, which puts unnecessary strain through the rib joints. If we’re immobile and not moving properly, sometimes these rib joints are going to get irritated. Kyphotic: If you’re hunched over, using the towel exercise but in the mid-back can help.

Doing it for just 3-5 minutes is enough, it can cause a lot of pain initially so you may wish to do this on the bed first. If you have a very flat thoracic spine, this should be avoided. Inflammation: getting control of the inflammation is very important. 5 minutes of an ice-pack on the back is going to be helpful. Do this up to 5-6 times a day. Stretch: lying on the back with your arms next to the head at right angles can help stretch out further. Strengthening: build up the muscles in the upper back, mid-back, lower back and lower body, to help support the body as much as possible.