Lower rib poking out with discomfort

Kyle C

New member
Hey Guys. I just want to say thanks for answering my previous posts, those problems are getting better every day. But now I have a new problem that I hope you can help me with.

I went to the chiropractor to look at my original problems last wednesday. I'm 6 feet tall and only weigh 108 right now (I've lost a good 10 lbs in the last week) and I'm 23 years old.

The chiro cracked my back and everything, and the rest of the day I felt pretty good. When I woke up thursday I felt a very uncomfortable "pain" on my right side. I examined my ribs and found that my lowest rib on the right side is sticking out. I'm not positive that the chiro caused this, but it seems logical.

When I lay on my back it really sticks out. It's hard for me to sleep on my back or side because all positions just feel very uncomfortable. When I push on that rib it does bring it to pain instead of just discomfort. I told the chiro on Friday what happened, and she said it might be out of place. She also said she might have bruised a rib by pushing too hard (since I was sick and weak). One of my upper ribs (on my back) feels soar like it might be bruised, but my lower rib that's sticking out is definitely a separate problem.

Her adjustment Friday didn't do much to fix my rib problem, and I've been dealing with it for 4 days now. It hasn't gotten worse, but it hasn't gotten better either.

First off, should I be at all worried. Second, is there anything I can do besides take Ibuprofen to help it? Like I said, the pain isn't too bad, it's more discomfort than pain, but I do need the problem fixed as it's very hard to work like this. Perhaps there are exercises or stretches I can do? Or should I just keep going back to the Chiro and have her work on it?

I'd be happy to take a picture of the displaced rib if it would help. Thank you guys so much in advance.
 
If it were me and this chiropractor cracked my back and I ended up with a broken rib, (which is what it sound like) than the last place I would return to would be this chiropractor. If she broke your rib, good chance she may break something else, like your neck!! You can only wait for the rib to heal. You could certainly try going to see your primary care, he/she may be able to give you some type of back belt to maybe hold the rib in place, although I have never heard of such a device. Maybe you could wrap an extra large ace bandage around your mid section, this may protect you from re injuring yourself. Ribs typically take 6-8 weeks to heal and unless you are in extreme pain, Advil, Tylenol or Aleve may help your pain symptoms. You could also ask your Primary Care for some stronger medication for bedtime.

Hope you are feeling better soon.
 
Actually it sounds like it could have been dislocated. It needs to be checked by a doctor, if just dislocated that needs to be fixed and I believe people that typically have to deal with this sort of problem just use ace bandages to add some support while the ligaments heal - run that by your doctor first.

Your tall and skinny, in some people this can mean there could be related issues. Such as being fairly or very flexible, for example. Find out what happened with that rib. If it broke your bones may be too weak, if it dislocated you may have some hypermobility or something else causing your joints to be weak - in either case, the chiro was too rough and you shouldn't go back.
 
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