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Posted by Guest - Painfull Ribs Hurts When Laying Down : I hurt my ribcage area and its been hurting for weeks, it really hurts bad when laying down and when I wake up in the morning the ribs feel really strained and sore.  I'm not sure if its broken ribs or something like that but the ribs dont seem to be healing. It really hurts all over buy laying down sleeping is really a problem and moving makes them hurt worse.  Has anyone had this where is just lingers on for weeks and doesn't seem to be healing?

Guest Says: You may have a broken rib, or if not a broken rib then there is lots of cartilage and muscles in and around the ribs, I was leaning over something and had all my weight on my ribs and felt it burn or pop like feeling, mine was sore for 6 weeks. Try this, and it sounds odd, but for me sleeping in a recliner for a week made it ALOT better. Yes it sucks sleeping in recliner, but its much better when you get up and realize its healing, and its not all strained and sore from laying down flat trying to sleep.  If you can lay back in a recliner without it hurting, then I would sleep there in that position like I did as it made a huge difference for me. My guess is sleeping flat made my ribs strained and sore and it wasn't healing fast because of that strain.  I dont know how else to explain it because I noticed a major difference even the next day after that, and it was weeks of feeling very little improvement before that. Its worth a try for you also.

Guest Says: I'll backup the recliner option. My chest area was really hurting, kind of up under the chest, upper rib area, and I think I tore something in there. Midsection hurt everytime I moved or reached out with one arm, and ribs really hurt when sneezing! It was never more sore or painfull then when I got up in the morning! Its like when you relax sleeping it was putting strain on the rib and chest area!  I slept in a recliner for 3 straight days and what a difference it made, so I'll back up this story above.

Guest Says: I should have said also as long as it feels more comfortable when you lean the recliner way back, you will know.

Guest Says: I'm following up on this, there is something to that sleeping in a recliner when you have injured ribs, it worked. I like the term you used "strained ribs" because thats exactly how it felt for me, especially getting out of bed or turning when sleeping, the entire chest and upper rib area felt really sore.   After 4 days its unreal how much better I now feel, my ribs and that same up under the chest muscle type injury no longer have that strained and sore feeling. I'm trying to now figure out why that worked?  I'm guessing when you have sore ribs, at least for me when the ribs are painfull sleeping and has that really  "strained" rib and chest pain when getting up in the morning (thats the best way I can describe that feeling, almost like someone was pulling and stretching the muscles and ribs all night), maybe they werent healing because it kept putting so much pressure on the rib cartilage and muscles and it wouldnt heal?    4 days in the recliner it healed more then the previous 10 days and was noticeably less painfull throughout the day.  The only thing I can figure out is I'm guessing when you sleep everything was relaxing and pulling down on cartilage and hurting it which was keeping it from healing.  The recliner even when way back keeps you partially upright so the pressure of laying flat is no longer on the ribs and chest area when you relax.  Thats my guess. I could tell getting up in the morning once it got "loose" because normally it felt awful the first hour after getting out of bed, and now it felt maybe only 20% of that. The only thing is ......... it sucks sleeping in recliner lol  But well worth it to get it healed.

Guest Says: Here is my story. On my side I hurt something by lunging and reach over a backrest (with the backrest sticking in my side as I tried to pick something up), and I knew something unusual happened because it felt like a very weird pain. Probably not as painfull as the rib injury you mentioned above but when I got out of bed in the morning it was hard to move my midsection.  Mostly the rib area in front of the chest by the sturnum and rib area off to the right of that.  This went on for about 5 days in a row and was worst when I got up in the morning. I tried sleeping in the recliner as stated, because when I layed back in it the ribs never really hurt, definitely not painfull like lieing down and rolling around. It probably depends alot on your injury, but it worked amazing well.  I feel like I went from not recovering to suddenly healing, and I could tell right away the next day.  I would describe is the rib area finally getting some relief and sleep without pulling on it all night, because it felt improvement even the next day.  I ended up doing this only for 3 nights, it felt that much better that I didnt think I needed to do that anymore as my ribs weren't really hurting anything close to previous. Thanks for posting this info.

Guest Says: I should have said tried sleeping in recliner after 5 days of that since it wasnt feeling any better.

Guest Says: As you get older it becomes easy to injure ribs. People always say broken ribs but most of the time, I dont believe that. I think its just damaging those tendons.  It then hurts all over when you move, lie down, get up, etc.

Guest Says: What really sucks is coughing or sneezing. lol  I'm not kidding, thats the worst part of my day because the rib area all contracts.

Dan Says: The common sense thing is anything you do that feels like its hurting alot, you have to try not to do, because that is making it worse.  When I had injured my ribs I basically had to do alot of sitting around and finding the "position" where it hurt the least and spending alot of time in that position.  It sucked but you have to do what you have to do.

Guest Says: Thanks for the help I got from reading about help for bruised ribs, no one told me how long pain would last or how to help oneself. I live alone so am pleased with the help I got from the article. By the way I’m nearly 80 Am off to USA for Christmas happy to know I should be well by then God willing thanks for sharing

Guest Says: I believe I keep re-injuring myself at night the pain is so intense I can't stand it thank you for your input

Guest Says: By the way, it actually gets much easier to sleep in recliner once you do it 2 or 3 days in a row and you adjust to that. I easily slept through the night once I did this for a few days, and I almost wanted to just keep sleeping there even after the ribs healed :)  It probably matters what type of recliner you have also, for me its a lazy boy type where the lever pulls the feet up and it has those big padded arm rests. I would just pull the lever to raise feet slowly so the ribs dont hurt, then lie back slowly and push all the way back to find that perfect angle where my ribs weren't hurting, then I would pull the blanket up over and go to sleep like that. Get up slowly in morning (ribs will be a little stiff but shouldn't hurt anything close to what it felt like laying flat in bed) and lay back slowly trying not to irritate or injure the rib area while doing so. For me in my recliner, even when all the way back, I'm definitely never flat in mid section and ribs are never stretched out flat like laying in bed.

steve Says: I was actually trying to sleep sitting upright on end of couch, just slouching back and sideways enough to find the perfect position where ribs did not hurt lol  It felt great getting some sleep without pain. Sounds like a bad night of sleep but its actually a good night of sleep compared to laying flat and having the ribs constantly in pain and keeping me awake all night.

Guest Says: I think the reason the recliner helps so much is when you fall asleep you are slightly curled and all the weight doesnt sink straight down flat on the rib area and instead pulls at different angle. Thats why it felt so good when you woke up in the morning because you finally had a full night where the ribs had a chance to heal without straining it all night. (Same with end of the couch, because you were somewhat hunched up it never sunk down and pulled on it all night). With any of these types of things, its the same with pulled muscles, you have to get it healed to the point where every move you do during the day isnt just adding strain to it again and again, then once you get healed to that point where this no longer happens then it rapidly improves.

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