Annie, like the Wookie, I also have had a cracked sternum. Hurt like all h***, but it healed back together okay.
I also severely broke by ankle, when I was 15. I put my foot on the back of my leg, by doing cool flips over a fence and landing on my feet. Turns out one of them wasn’t so cool after all.
Also about ten years ago, I fell off a truck load of wood straight backwards on to asphalt. I threw out my arm to break my fall. It did, but it also broke my arm, i.e. wrist–both bones in it. My hand was up on top of my arm, had to be pulled back straight using weights and then set and casted. Took several months to heal and quite a lot of physical theraphy, but it healed okay and I’ve got good movement in it.
Both breaks healed okay and never had to have pins put in either my ankle or wrist. I’ve also had my jaw broke, but that is another story as well. Also I’m sure I’ve had a very minor cracked rib or two, hurt like heck but I’m okay.
My advice is this: take one of those multi vitimin packs every day, plus in addition take an extra calcium pill, and an extra vitimin C pill wouldn’t hurt also.
Also keep pack weight down like others have said. A external frame pack will carry well, be sturdy, not jump around and has fabalous rigidity (support). You might want to consider one.
Also keep those ribs wrapped tight, i.e. maybe a real tight large elastic wrap with velcro closings, so that it is easy on and easy off. Having a cracked rib is not bad, but what you don’t want is the broken rib pieces working back and forth against each other, or working into your flesh, causing internal damage and bleeding, etc. That is why cracked ribs are generally always treated with a tight ace elastic wrap to hold them in place. You should be okay as long as you do the above, and if you feel any movement of the parts of that unhealed rib against each other, then cease and desist doing whatever it is that is cause the movement. People work with broken ribs all the time. They should heal ok, but slurk those Calcium pills and drinking milk would help too.
I hiked/jogged about 30,000 miles plus or so. So I’ve got a little experience with it and broken bones, etc. I think you should be okay, just take it easy and listen to your body. If you’re overdoing it, your body will let you know.
You’ve got a couple of months of healing time before 1 April, so vitimins pills (multi pack) and calcium pills, etc. Plus get out and walk as much as you can. It will just take time for to heal.
What happens when you break a bone is that you get a separation, even if that separation is only a hairline fracture, it is still a separation. In the case of a more severe break, that separation can leave a greater gap between the bones. What happens is that they fuze back together providing you eat right, take care of yourself, etc. Fuzing means they literally grow back together. Wearing a tight rib wrap could help push the bones back closer to each other so that they would fuze back together quicker and easier, that I suppose also is why rib wraps are use for folks with broken ribs (to help hold them in place so they can fuze back together easier and quicker)–a rib wrap to broken ribs is sort of like a cast is on a broken arm (to hold the bones securely in place so that they fuze back together quicker and easier).
It’s only been a couple months since the fall and breaks. Give it some time. X-rays, etc can see dense bone but soft tissue like fuzing bone cannot be seen as well. So give it some time, use those rib wraps, and take those vitimins. Also eat well, lots of fruits and vegetables as mentioned able, etc.
Also, Annie, get yourself a good set of hiking poles and use them. They will help keep the weight somewhat off of your back, shoulders, etc.
You might also want to do a www search, look up broken ribs on webmd and see what advice is given there and what is said.
See you out there. :cheers
Maintain
