How long does it take for bruised ribs to heal?

How long will bruised ribs take to heal?

• I took a few kicks and big take downs (think airborne then landing with someone's shoulder driving into my ribs) last night and my ribs are pretty sore. I can cough, laugh and sneeze without severe pain but there is some discomfort. It's also painful to move around I'd say 5/10 for pain. How long will this take to feel OK because I have a boxing tournament in 9 days!!

• Answer:

  I have had it happen a few times and each injury healed totally different so in my opinion based on my experiences and the times that I was able to cough the pain only lasted a couple of days. I would rest it and just work on your mental preparation. At this point your boxing skills cannot improve or become drastically worse in 9 days however your mental game could suffer. If I were coaching you we would rest the ribs, low impact cardio drills and super intensive mental preperation by examining every single aspect of your fight game. Take advantage of the situation and turn it around in your favor by becoming more mentally prepared through visualization of your fight plan..jab, jab combos, counter combos, feet movement, head movement....etc... The ribs are tricky and unpredictable ....sounds like your going to be fine since you have no pain while coughing but you could make it worse if you do not chill and let it recover. Best of luck ! I hope you win!