Rib issues. Yeah.

[Sir Real]

Hi everyone.
Earlier in the year I sprained my ribs in two spots on two separate occasions. I hadn't been binding hard at all or long but I had a cough both times. Don't bind when you have a moderate or worse cough lol (the sprains happened very suddenly btw, one breath I was fine, next I had the sprain). They healed, took two months each, though. I had a way of dealing with the healing time but it won't work anymore for a few reasons. I'll save you the time reading the lengthy details lol.

I've been noticing that these two spots have been giving me some discomfort lately. Sometimes it's when I'm binding but luckily I was at home those times so I could take the binder off right away. Sometimes it's when I'm laying down on my side. Just now it's happened since I took the binder off. Again, I really don't bind hard. There's very little compression at all in the one I have right now. I'm not very big and it does only just enough to make things not stick out so much but only if I position things right. I can't not bind. It's summer and layering is a no with these 35c with high humidity days. And something tells me this problem is just going to keep happening for a while.

I guess I don't have a specific question, just maybe some advice for this situation if anyone has any they'd like to offer.

[Sam Alexei]

Even if it seems mild, I'd go to the doctor or urgent care.

I had mild discomfort, nothing too bad, in the rib area in January.
I was persuaded to go into urgent care after 2-3 weeks of it being a mild nuisance.
I was x-rayed and it was broken, I never would have guessed. It was already halfway healed by time I got in, so I would have been pretty screwed if it had healed badly, may have needed re-breaking.

Better safe than sorry, man! Hope you feel better!!!

[FTMax]

Go to the doctor. That is my advice.

At best, you're bruised. At worst, you're broken. And the only way it'll improve is if you're not binding. But you'll need a professional to look and see what the damage is before you can figure out how to treat yourself.

[sam1234]

Broken ribs can take a long time to heal and cause a lot of pain. I had two of mine broken in a fall this spring.
Ideally, you should not have bound yourself when it happened, mainly because one of the worries with broken ribs is that people take shallow breaths and wind up with either respiratory problems or atelectisi, (some of the small alveoli in your lungs collapse). Rock or hard place for you.

I would be more concerned about the two spots that have resurfaced with pain. The safest thing to do would be to see your Dr. If he/she knows you are a transgender, it won't be as hard to talk openly and get advice that will take your need to bind into consideration. If not, you may have to come clean.

Tell your Dr. about the original problem, along with the binding and go ahead and discuss the new problem. Find out what the problem is and how you can safely bind to prevent making things worse. The need to keep yourself as male in appearance can over rule common sense when it comes to medical problems and treating them. At one time or another, I'm sure many of us have forgone safety for the sake of keeping our psyches comfortable.

Off the actual break subject, make sure if you are binding that you take several deep breaths during the day and don't bind so tight that prevents normal breathing, no matter how small a problem. Its just no worth the risk in the long term. For now, go to the Dr. and make sure you are ok

sam1234

[Sir Real]

Thanks for the replies. My doctor knows about the sprain from before (one of them at least). She had me do an x-ray and an ultrasound and they came back normal so she said it was a sprain. My chiropractor confirmed it. But a sprained area is more susceptible to injuries later I've been told =S I'm not always in pain, and when I am it's very minor but I may have a high pain tolerance too so... Well I'll go to the doctor and see what she says. She does know I'm trans. I really hope this doesn't mean I'l have to stop binding. I don't know how I would handle that.

[Muscle Matt]

These warnings should be more readily available. Ribs are more delicate than they seem, and sometimes problems start with just slight pain or discomfort. When I started waist training years ago, I actually ended up breaking one of my ribs from the pressure. Lucky for me, it was a deformed rib that stuck out a little bit that had always made me a little self conscious, so when it healed in alignment with the rest of my ribs I was happy. But there was a week or two that I was in absolute pain, and I couldn't even let my boyfriend put his arms around me in any way. If I had been working at the time, I would have needed to take off work.

It's pretty scary that just coughing in your binder could cause sprains, but I'm glad it wasn't worse for you.