Have you ever sneezed and felt something ‘go out’ in your back? Can’t twist, can’t stand up straight, its hurts to breathe let alone laugh!
Almost feels like you’ve popped a rib out.
I don’t know about you, but if I had these symptoms I’d be freaking out! What have I done? Why can’t I breathe properly? Being in a position where you feel frozen and any movement hurts is always going to cause alarm. A completely normal reaction and that’s okay.
Fortunately… This type of injury doesn’t hang around for too long. And ribs definitely don’t literally ‘pop out’!
Still, it’s quite a scary injury to suffer. So, why does this happen and what should you do?
Simple Reason Why You May Be Susceptible to a ‘Popped Rib’
Usually it’s a good sign you’re not using your core symmetrically.
As a result:
Your ribcage wants to rotate better on one side than it does to the other.
This compresses your rib joints next to your spine on one side
All you need to do is twist (or sneeze) and it feels like you’ve ‘popped’ something.
The 5 Steps To Manage a Rib Injury
Stay calm – you will be okay
Try and put yourself in a comfortable position lying down with you knees gently bent and feet flat on the floor
Gently lower your knees from one side to the other 3x each way.
With knees back in the centre – take 3 slow, controlled breaths as deep as you can without pushing through pain.
Repeat 3 times and then as often as necessary throughout the day
Obviously, you also want to seek treatment to help get out of pain as quickly as possible. Breathing and moving your upper body is quite important after all. Just be careful you avoid some really common mistakes in the meantime. The last thing you want is to make it worse by:
Trying to ‘crack’ your own back to ‘put it back in’
Take anti-inflams and continue on with normal activity
Trying to get a ball into the sore spot to release it
Asking a friend to ‘crack’ your back
Once we get you out of pain, the next step is to figure out why it happened in the first place. It’s not something you want to happen again.. Trust me.
Getting an appointment ASAP is the best course of action. The last thing you want is to try and sort this out on your own.