Question
Hi Scott,

I am 26 years old, in pretty good shape and spend a good amount of time excercising.  Last week while playing basketball, I took a hard blow to my rib cage that knocked the wind out of me.  Later that night I could hardly move without pain in my ribs where the collision happened.  It was my right rib cage, about 6-8 inches lower-right of the sternum.  

After a couple days the pain has mostly subsided in the front rib cage, and seemed to move to my back - my mid-back rib cage just under my right shoulder blade.  I've been experiencing intense pain when twisting, bending, using the muscles (like lifting or pulling), coughing or sneezing.  Especially sneezing though, it's almost unbearable when I sneeze.  

Will this pain subside in time or did my ribs get misaligned in the physical blow to the front ribs?  Any advice?

Thanks much for your expertise.

Pete

Answer
Pete,

If you did not experience immediate rib pain, then there's a good chance you did not fracture your ribs.   It's likely a sprain, and since your ribs are connected to the spine, back pain is typical.     Find a good chiropractor in Mpls.    There's a lot of DC's in Mpls (I used to live there and went to school there).    If you find that your pain gets better every day, then give it a few more days or a week to see if it eventually resolves.  It could.  But, frankly, you should get checked out.    See if you can find a DC on this list:   www.acbsp.com   and also see if they cross with these lists:   www.grastontechnique.com or www.faktr.com

Hope this helps.

Dr. G